An Angel's Grace
by BellaMonster
Summary: Sera, a seraph, has her grace stolen by Alastair, the inquisitor of Hell. Forced into helping, Castiel comes with Michael and Sera, only to find out that only Alastair can give Sera her grace back. Not only that, but the inquisitor graced Thomas Paseh with Sera's grace, making it even harder to retrieve.
1. Got a Job for You

**A/N: **Any of the characters you recognize from Supernatural aren't mine! *Meaning Castiel, Michael, Crowley, and Alastair* Thomas and Sera are my own creations...

* * *

Silence spilled across the room. Nothing could be heard or seen, though there was, in fact, a teenager sleeping on the four poster bed in the center of the room. There was a sudden gasp of fright, followed by the crinkling of bed sheets being thrown aside. The soft sound of bare feet echoed in the room as the sound of terror filled breathing died down. There was a quiet click and then a small lamp lit up the whole room dimly.

A short girl stood by the side table, her coppery-brown hair messy from sleep; her golden-amber eyes searched the room for something. There was a terror in her eyes as if someone or some_thing_ was going to get her at any given moment.

She tiptoed toward the door, trying to keep as quiet as she could, constantly looking over her shoulder nervously. She reached for the door knob and almost screamed when she opened it, but she forced her hand over her mouth and the scream away. Standing on the other side of the door was a familiar blonde haired teenage boy.

He grinned innocently at her, his blue eyes shone out against the dark hallway behind him. "Sera, we need to go," he said, getting straight to the point, but casually as if this was how he usually conducted things and his voice sounded soft and rich, instantly calming her down a little bit.

"But—" she stammered, her golden-amber eyes still wide with terror as she stared at the blonde haired boy.

"I'm on a time limit," he said tapping his arm as if he had a watch there with his head cocked to the side a little bit. "I'm not really into disobeying." His icy-blue eyes flickered anxiously down the dark hallway like he was afraid that he would be in a heap of trouble if he wasn't back on time.

Sera nodded stiffly as she combed her fingers through her golden-brown hair nervously. "I think someone else is here," she murmured, her eyes as far left as they could go; she was trying to look behind her without turning around. "Demon?" she inquired feebly. She was more afraid of what had been in her dream than the demon, but the demon didn't help her fear.

Michael turned his gaze toward the bed behind her with curious eyes. "I'm not sure…" he murmured with a cocked head. He fell silent for a few moments, like he was pinpointing what was in the room besides Sera and himself. "Yes," he said slowly as his eyes fell back onto her, "It's a demon. And it's not one we can handle at the moment." He held a tanned hand out for Sera to take which she took hesitantly. The sound of fluttering wings echoed in the room as they vanished from sight.

* * *

"Exactly how long was your 'time limit'?" Sera asked bitterly as Michael bandaged up her left arm. "Because I think you're overdue." Her voice dripping with sarcasm.

She was sitting stiffly on an old, wooden crate that was already falling to pieces without her weight. They hadn't made it far from the house, they were still in Detroit, but they had managed to leave the demon behind in Sera's house. They were in an alleyway, one of the many that Detroit had. There was graffiti on almost every splotch of wall down this one, which didn't faze Sera at all, it was a normal occurrence.

"Except you got hurt, and I didn't," Michael said tying the bandage off tightly earning a tiny squeak of pain from Sera. He tried not to smirk. "I should have been back a month ago," he muttered looking at her as he flicked his wrist with a sigh, the slight smirk disappeared. "But I couldn't find you," he said scowling; his icy-blue eyes looked menacing in the little lighting there was in the alleyway.

"I thought you said you weren't into disobeying," Sera muttered as she stood up and looked around them. She rolled her shoulder painfully and made a face realizing she was still in her pajamas. She was about to speak when Michael cut her off.

"It's not disobeying. You hid yourself," Michael muttered shaking his head, apparently believing that Sera should have known better than think it was disobeying. He looked around them taking in their surroundings, and blinked in confusion. "We're not there."

"No, you're not," said a sly voice. A thin man dressed in a black suit stepped out of thin air with a cunning smirk playing on his lips. His hair was slicked back with at least a bottle of gel and he was bathed in about just as much cologne. He had a certain aura about him that gave off a bad vibe.

Sera's golden-amber eyes widened with surprise, she took a step back in disbelief. "Alastair…" she whispered. She held her arm close to her chest as if to protect it from whatever Alastair might do.

"Yeah, good to know you recognize me," he said with a wily smile, his dark eyes dancing in amusement. "Now, straight to the point. You two are in a lot of trouble, you're losing the war. Your strength is waning." Alastair's smile grew as Michael's expression darkened; he knew he was hitting a sore spot with them. Alastair always knew how to do that, after all, it was kind of his job to know everyone's past to use it as a torture later.

"We are not," Michael said an edge to his voice, his eyes glowing harshly as he stared at the other man, but there was no fury or rage there, that was something Michael had managed to master in all of his years. "We are as strong as we've ever been." He held his head up proudly, as if he were trying to show the strength of the angels, but without his pride.

"Your friend says otherwise," the inquisitor said raising his eyebrows; his dark eyes flickered toward Sera, who cowered with her arm held tightly against her. "Hmm. For an angel so close to Him, you'd think you wouldn't have emotions," he taunted, his dark eyes danced in mock.

Sera's face hardened, her golden-amber eyes now a burning flame, she seemed to forget she was hurt and straightened up, taking his words as a complete insult. "There are no emotions. It is a sin." She shook her head as if she couldn't believe she was hearing Alastair say this to her, even if he _was_ the inquisitor of Hell.

"We'd love to have you," Alastair said thoughtfully as he looked at her, completely ignoring what she said. "I have a list of things planned, just for you." He pointed at Sera with an innocent smile, but the smile turned into more of a mischievous grin.

Sera made a sound of disgust in her throat. "Michael," she started but she broke off with her hand grabbing at her throat; she was choking but Alastair's doing.

"Alastair," Michael said warningly, his icy-blue eyes blazing fires as they flashed to the inquisitor. "Let her go." His voice was calm yet forceful.

"Hm. I don't know. Do I want to? Do I have to listen to you?" Alastair said as he looked at Michael thoughtfully with a touch of mock. Sera thudded on the ground, gasping for air. "Watch out. I'll be back for you. And I'll have so much fun." Alastair smiled mischievously though he didn't sound impressed that he had to let Sera go so soon and then he disappeared into thin air.

Michael looked toward Sera, who still lay on the ground. "You alright?" he inquired looking over her worriedly, his eyes searching for any signs of injury.

Sera nodded as she pushed herself to her feet. "Where are we?" she sighed dusting her pajamas off. She knew they were still in Detroit, but where in Detroit was a different story.

"No idea," Michael said shrugging his shoulders as his eyes searched their surroundings again. "But we need to get out of here," he said looking over his shoulder warily. It seemed as if he was worried that Alastair would come back sometime soon.

Sera held her hand out. "Lead on," she said, her golden-amber eyes flickering. He reluctantly grabbed her hand. The ruffling of fluttering wings echoed in the small alleyway and then the two angels disappeared.

* * *

"How come you never get hurt?" Sera grumbled unhappily as Michael tied another bandage around her left arm, this time closer to her wrist. She was now sitting on the concrete ground, her legs crisscrossed in front of her as she waited impatiently from Michael to bandage her arm.

"Because I'm the only one who knows how to bandage," Michael said teasingly, smirking as he tied the bandage off. "I don't want an amputated arm," he chuckled. Sera wasn't the best angel to have bandage you, she'd had several incidents with doctors before now, so now she couldn't properly do anything that had to do with healing without thinking back to times that she no longer wanted to remember.

"Who are we meeting?" she asked after a moment of silence, completely ignoring Michael's teasing. Her golden-amber eyes set on the archangel in question.

"Castiel."

Sera's gaze darkened, her eyes resembling the burning ambers of a fire. That was the only name in the whole universe Sera never wanted to hear. "Why? Can't he take care of himself?" she inquired irately.

"Yes." Michael sighed as he looked away from Sera. He knew how much Sera hated Castiel. "He just has a job. A quick one," he said dipping his head as if he knew something else, but he wouldn't dare speak it, not to Sera. "Come, he's waiting."

Sera took a deep breath to calm herself and then followed him. Michael was a much more powerful angel, and so was Sera, than Castiel. To even have the lower angel asking for their help was very uncommon.

"Good evening," the familiar cool voice of Castiel echoed in the foggy air, though the angel was nowhere to be seen.

"Castiel," Sera said, dipping her head respectfully as she tried to keep the coldness from her voice. But there would always be that little blip of coldness in her voice, nothing could ever change that.

A man with dark, wavy hair that was pushed back appeared in front of them, his pale blue eyes watching Sera and Michael with the sound of rustling wings. "Thank you for coming," Castiel said casually. "I really do appreciate it." He bowed his head respectfully to the higher ranking angels.

Sera remembered when Castiel had told he that he really hated being respectful to the so-called 'higher angels' because he was just as strong as they were. But Castiel also played down his powers. If he wanted to, he could be more powerful than Sera at some points. She pushed the thought out of her head.

"Why do you need our help, exactly?" Sera asked her distrust shining through in her rigid voice; she wasn't even trying to be nice now. "You have your own angels to take care of you and do your 'jobs'."

"They're busy," Castiel said shrugging his shoulders, he didn't sound annoyed nor did he back down, even knowing Sera didn't like him. "I need your help." He sounded legitimately pleading for their help. "Alastair is loose." He swallowed painfully as he looked away from Michael and Sera. Castiel seemed as if it was his fault Alastair had escaped.

"And he's too powerful for you?" Michael asked out of pure curiosity. "If he's too powerful for you, how do you think we can take care of him?"

"Because you never lose," Castiel murmured, his pale blue eyes flickered to Michael and then back toward the concrete ground, there was doubt in his eyes. He didn't mention that both Sera and Castiel were higher ranking angels.

"We've lost plenty of times," Sera muttered through slitted eyes as she looked at Castiel.

"_You_ may have lost plenty of times," Castiel said as he looked at Sera, his pale blue eyes lighting up, "but Michael rarely has."

Michael held a hand out as a gesture to hold back knowing Sera already didn't like Castiel; this wouldn't help his case any. "That may be true," he said choosing his words carefully, "but we can't always win, Castiel, even a team such as Seraphina and me." Michael shook his head and then he looked back at Castiel. "We can try, but do not expect us to do well."

Castiel dipped his head respectfully to Michael in a sort of apology. "I wish you luck," he murmured as he began to turn away from them.

"Is that why he came after us?" Sera inquired after a moment of silence, thinking back to their encounter with Alastair only a few minutes ago.

"You saw him?" Castiel asked confusion in his eyes as he turned back to them. There was something about the look he held in his eyes that made Sera shutter, almost as if he were lying to them.

"Yes," Sera said, her golden-amber eyes flickered away from Castiel and to the concrete ground. Why hadn't she or Michael mentioned that they had stumbled across Alastair to Castiel before now? "He said he had plans. For me," she muttered a layer of repulsion coating her words. "I didn't even think to have thought he'd escaped."

Castiel sighed half-heartily, almost as if he was wishing he didn't have to hear those words. "Alright then," he murmured nodding unhappily toward Sera. "Good luck. And please hurry, we can't have him out there."

Michael nodded and managed the most respectful look he possibly could. "Until then." Michael waved and Castiel disappeared into thin air. Even he disliked Castiel, though not nearly as much as Sera. The two angels had two extremely different reasons for disliking Castiel.

"So… Alastair, where would he have gone?" Sera asked looking at Michael, her golden-amber eyes full of worry. Thoughts going through her head as she tried to think of all the places Alastair could have gone. And there were a lot of possible places for the Inquisitor of Hell to disappear to.

"Hell?" Michael suggested not so helpfully shrugging his shoulders. "Where would the 'Inquisitor of Hell' go?" he inquired rolling his eyes as he heaved a sigh.

"He could be hiding," Sera suggested.

"Oh, yeah. Where?" Michael grumbled. He looked around anxiously as if he was looking for Alastair already. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to make himself think straight. "Where can we start?" he inquired the burning fire in his icy-blue eyes now gone.

"My house," Sera said putting a hand out for him to take. "I need new clothes, and to put new bandaging on my arm," she said moving impatiently toward Michael when he didn't move or speak. "Plus you said there was a demon presence there." She stared at him, her glare burning into him.

"Fine," he sighed giving into her, which wasn't a normal occurrence. He put his hand out and grabbed hers, the sound of angel wings fluttering softly in the open space as they disappeared from view.

* * *

"Do me a favor," Sera said as she sat down on the leather couch in the living room of her house, "pour this," she said handing Michael a bottle of peroxide, "on my arm."

The house was amazingly beautiful for a place in the middle of Detroit. From the outside you couldn't tell that one of the richest families in the city lived here, and that was how they liked it, because there would never be as many burglaries. On the inside of the home there was beautiful décor. The kitchen, which was adjacent to the living room, was decked out with modern looking cabinetry and decorative plates replaced the molding along the ceiling. The living room was full of leather furniture, two armchairs and a couch, all matching complete with a glass coffee table.

Sera pulled her left sleeve up carefully and held it over the tub of soapy water she had put on the ground to catch any blood or peroxide that dripped from her arm. She shut her eyes and braced herself for the pain.

Michael untwisted the cap of the bottle and dumped it down the wounds on her arm. She inhaled sharply and flinched, her breaths filled with pain, and her golden-amber eyes bursting with agony, but there were no squeaks of pain or screams, only the sounds of her pain filled breaths.

She bit her lip as she dabbed the peroxide off her arm. "Wrap it," she murmured flatly. She tried so hard to keep any source of emotion from her voice to try to make Michael not worry, but the archangel looked worried anyways.

Michael nodded as he grabbed the roll of bandages sitting on the glass coffee table. "Might hurt," he muttered in warning giving her a concerned look.

"Can't be worse than the peroxide," she sighed as she leaned back on the couch and relaxed. She moved her arm so it was comfortable and where Michael could easily wrap it. Sera cringed a little as Michael wrapped her arm with the bandage tightly. "Should I put it in a sling?" she inquired looking at him with her head tilted to the side a little bit. She still would never been the best for helping with injuries.

Michael licked his lips, wondering if it was worth it. "Yeah, you got one somewhere in the house?" he asked as he stood up. He turned to face Sera, who nodded. "Alright, I'll be back in a moment then," he murmured as he turned away from her. The last thing she saw of Michael was him pushing his blonde hair back before turning down the hallway.

The room suddenly got colder, Sera felt as if there was a slight breeze wafting throughout the room even though there were no fans or open windows. She stood up too quickly and backed away toward the hallway that Michael had disappeared down, tripped on the carpet falling down, pulling on her arm, and making her wounds sear with pain. She squeaked in surprise and agony, her eyes searching the room for any sign of what had entered the room.

"Hello again, Seraphina," the sly voice of Alastair echoed throughout the room. He walked around the edge of the couch dressed in the same suit that he had been in at their last encounter.

Sera sighed, a growl rumbling in her throat; she hated it when she was called Seraphina, by anyone, even Michael. "Alastair," said Sera as seriously as she could without her voice cracking in pain or surprise. "Why are you here? I assume you know the job that was given to Michael and I."

Of course she knew that Alastair was aware of the task that Castiel had given Michael and Sera. For Alastair _not_ to know would have been almost improbable, it seemed Alastair always knew what was going on, even when it didn't concern with him or anything else from Hell. But why the inquisitor had shown up was anyone's guess.

"Oh yes," Alastair said with an annoyed sigh. "I know right now that every angel that's aware I've escaped from Heaven is coming here." He shrugged his shoulders as if he really could care less with that tiny smile that Sera hated so much. "But how will they feel when they see one of their angels without her grace?" Alastair laughed quietly as he took a few steps toward Sera, who tried to scoot further away from the inquisitor.

"Y-You can't take my grace," Sera stammered though there was doubt in her voice, she had learned not to doubt anyone with power, even if they were from the other side of the battle. "Even if you could, Michael would stop you."

Alastair smirked at Sera's remark. "Michael's a little _busy_ at the moment," he said as a door down the hallway slammed shut followed by loud, furious shouting from Michael. "Now, where was I?" he said with a crazy smile. He took several hurried steps toward Sera, who was desperately trying to get to her feet. He touched her forehead and started to chant in Latin before she could get to her feet and try to run.

Sera whimpered in pain, but she couldn't force herself move. A silvery-white light glowed from her eyes and mouth as Alastair continued to chant in Latin. And then she went limp, her body thudded to the floor just as a door down the hallway slammed open.

"_Sera!_" was the last thing Sera heard before her vision went dark.


	2. An Angel without her Grace

**A/N: **Anything you recognize from Supernatural isn't mine! And yes, I know... That's not how the angels would really act, I'm putting my own kind of spin on it...

* * *

Sera woke up with a throbbing headache, her head hammering in agony. There were two figures standing above her, Castiel and Michael. Both of them wore worried looks, sad looks. Sera forced herself to sit up painfully and face them despite the voice in her head telling her not to. "He… He didn't… Did he?" she stammered quietly, her golden-amber eyes darting back and forth between Castiel and Michael anxiously. She couldn't ask the full question, she was afraid she would breakdown if she did.

Neither of them moved for a moment, but their facial expressions gave her the answer before Michael spoke. He took a deep breath. "Sera, he took your grace," Michael murmured, the words seemed to pain him. He looked away from her in shame. "I'm so sorry… I- He locked me in that room and I couldn't—"

Castiel's deathly glare cut Michael off, the higher ranked angel was too despaired to argue with Castiel. "We'll get it back," he vowed as he kneeled down beside Sera, his voice gentle. She wished she could push him away, but that annoying voice in her voice told her not to. He took her hands in his and murmured, "I promise." He knew what her grace meant to her.

Sera couldn't force a smile, not even a fake one; she only nodded, a painful and confused expression clouding her eyes. "How… How'd he do it?" she inquired quietly as she looked at Michael hoping for some comfort.

The angel shook his head. "I have no idea," he murmured, he sounded upset and confused. That was the answer Sera dreaded. "But Castiel and I will find out." There was doubt in his voice, which made Sera wonder if they would ever know how Alastair took her grace.

"I'm coming with you," Sera said, she tried to stand up but instead she squeaked in pain and sat back down on the ground with a frustrated look. She gave Castiel, though very much against her will, a pleading look, knowing that Michael wouldn't let her go; Castiel at least would side with her even if they didn't get along now, there was a time when they had.

"She may not be an angel," Castiel said as he looked at Michael, knowing the look she was giving him, "but she'll be of use. She can still help."

Michael's expression darkened and he shook his head. "She's hurt," he stated, earning him a fiery look of anger from Sera. "She'd be more of a burden to take care of than a help." He looked at Sera as if he was trying for an apology.

"I can walk," Sera grumbled, her golden-amber eyes glowing in determination. "I just need help up…" she muttered looking away from Michael and Castiel afraid to see their faces. "Did you get my sling…?" she asked almost hesitantly, not wanting to annoy Michael. He wasn't the most forgiving and caring angel.

Michael nodded shortly. "I still don't think you should come," he muttered rolling his icy-blue eyes, clearly not happy that they were ignoring his ideas. "Not to be rude… But you have no powers… What use are you?" he asked, he sounded serious, though he looked at her apologetically.

Sera held her breath as she forced herself to her feet, searing pain ran down her side, but she didn't make a sound. "I can fight," she said, her golden-amber eyes lighting up like a fire. Castiel stood alongside Sera, as if he was backing her up. Michael only scowled.

"She'll be of more use than you think, Michael," Castiel said, his pale blue eyes lighting up like small fires. "She's coming." Michael raised his eyebrows in amusement, but said nothing. "Sorry," Castiel said bowing his head respectfully realizing that Michael was, in fact, superior here. "But she _is_ coming," he said as he looked back up at Michael, the burning fires still blazing.

Michael sighed, he sounded irritated. "Fine," he muttered with a murderous glare. "But she's your responsibility."

Sera's eyes widened in disbelief. Michael would never put _Castiel_ in charge of her or anyone else. He knew how well Sera and he got along. "I—"

Castiel's expression hardened. "Because she's human now, you want nothing to do with her," Castiel said harshly, cutting Sera off. He understood what was going on between Sera and Michael. "Seems a little unfair."

"I'm going after Alastair, am I not?" Michael muttered as he looked away from Castiel and Sera shaking his head in frustration. Michael hated humans and for no reason really, he never worked with humans, the closest dealings he ever had with a human were the vessels he took. Sera and Castiel dealt with humans, even though they harbored no love for them they still cherished what they did and what they could do in the future.

"Because I gave you the job," Castiel muttered under his breath. He flinched, thinking Michael had heard him, but Michael didn't speak. "Come on, we need to get out of here." He turned away from Sera and Michael. "And give her the arm sling," he said rudely over his shoulder to Michael.

Michael tossed Sera the arm sling with little effort, a very displeased look spread across his face, and then walked away. He didn't even turn back to see if Sera was alright. She caught the sling and her heart dropped. She and Michael were usually so close and now, because she was mortal, he treated her like a child, and a horrible one at that. It pained her, knowing he didn't want anything to do with her. Even Castiel was sticking up for her, which didn't happen. Castiel and Sera never got along. Ever. Not since their accident.

Sera walked after the two angels, her crushed expression making her seem even smaller than she already was. She held the arm sling in her hand limply; she needed help to put it on…doing it one-handed wasn't exactly an easy feat.

"Okay," Michael said, he said it loud enough for Sera to catch, but he was talking to Castiel more than her. "Where would he go now?" he muttered.

Castiel turned back toward Michael, a very annoyed look across his face, but it disappeared quickly. Castiel didn't want Michael to be mad at him as it wouldn't be very pretty with Michael already being upset about Sera's grace being taken away. "I don't know. Where would we start?" Castiel's gaze fell on Sera he wanted her opinion as well, not just Michael's stuck up opinion.

"No idea," she murmured. "Somewhere out of reach, I would assume," she added with a sigh, her shoulders drooping in defeat. "But where? That could be anywhere." She wished she knew so that Michael wouldn't think she wasn't useful.

Castiel sighed shaking his head. "We don't have time for this," he muttered. He looked Michael for a moment, trying to decide what to do. "Can you go out and look? I'll stay with Sera," he murmured, his dark gaze fell to the concrete floor.

Michael was silent; it seemed as if the three of them were holding their breaths. "Yes," he murmured with a sigh. "Get to a hotel or something. Check her arm," he added dipping his head in Sera's direction. "I'll be back." Even if he didn't want anything to do with Sera now, he was still deadly worried about her arm.

Sera bit her lip as soon as Michael had vanished into thin air. "I'm no help," she muttered sounding disappointed. "He doesn't even trust me anymore," she said, sadness coating her voice. She and Michael had been close for at least over a thousand years, he couldn't just back out of their friendship now.

Castiel shook his head, "No, you're fine," he murmured, he knew it wasn't her fault, which was something that Michael really didn't seem to understand. "Michael doesn't know what to do or think. And personally, I can't really blame him." He sighed; there was no easy way to make Sera understand what he was getting at. "Come on, we need to find a hotel. Hope—"

"He always knows where I'm at," Sera interrupted. "Do you have any money for a hotel room?" she inquired curiously. "They're expensive in Detroit…" she trailed off.

"Plenty enough," Castiel promised. "Finding one will be more of a problem." He walked across the road heading toward the sidewalk, not even checking for traffic. "Oh…" he said blankly. "I forgot. You live here…" he muttered a frustrated look on his face as if he were thinking _how could I have forgotten that_?

"Yeah," Sera said trailing after him across the road. "There should be a hotel about a half mile down the road from here." She pointed down the street to the southern side of Detroit in the direction of the hotel.

Castiel nodded and then stopped suddenly when he reached the sidewalk and turned toward her. He took her arm sling from her hand and made a gesture for her to turn around. "Pull your hair back," he murmured.

Sera pulled her hair off to the side, turning her back to him. He pulled the sling over her head and fit her arm into it. "Thank you," she said letting her hair back down and turned toward Castiel again when he had stopped fidgeting with the arm sling. As much as she wanted to hate him, she couldn't, otherwise she had nobody. So she gave in, at least for now, and hugged him. It must have taken him by surprise because he jumped and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her.

"Don't worry," he murmured, he sounded like he really didn't mind, "we'll get your grace back," he mumbled. She was silent for a few minutes, all of the events of the past hours crashing down on her mind. "Sera?" he murmured looking down at her worriedly.

She shook her head and let go of him as if she suddenly realized that this was _Castiel_ she was hugging, and she shouldn't be hugging him. No matter what the circumstances may be. "S-sorry…" she mumbled a look of uncertainty crossed her face. "I…"

"No, it's alright," Castiel said, his pale blue eyes searching her face carefully. Even he knew that the loss of her grace was going to be hard for Sera. "Now, this hotel… How much are the rooms you suppose?" he asked after a moment once he decided that Sera was fine.

"Eighty a night, I think," Sera said closing her eyes as she tried to remember the pricing for the hotel rooms. "I would have a hundred bucks or so, on you, just in case," she murmured in caution.

Castiel nodded. "Alright," he said as he started to walk in the direction Sera had said the hotel was in. "How's your arm?" he inquired as he stuck his hands in the pockets of his light brown trench coat. He knew it would be hard for Sera to talk about because they both knew it wouldn't heal properly without her grace, but he needed to hear from her that she was alright.

"In pain?" she said, though it was more of a question than a statement. "I don't know. It shouldn't be hurting the way it does. It should have healed before…" she trailed off, not wanting to say 'before my grace was stolen' afraid that she would break down in tears of she did.

"Hm. When we get to the hotel I can take a look at it," he said looking over his shoulder at Sera. "Put some new bandages on it too if it needs it," he added, his eyes set on her for a moment before returning to the sidewalk in front of him.

Sera nodded. "Yeah, thanks," she sighed.

* * *

"I ordered Chinese," Castiel called from the other room of the suite. "Should be here in ten to fifteen minutes." He walked into the bedroom portion of the suite and sat down on the queen sized bed beside Sera. "May I look the cuts over?" he inquired looking at her carefully, not wanting to upset her if she didn't want the cuts looked at by him. He could understand that.

Sera nodded as she took her arm out of the sling painfully. "How'd you know that I like Chinese?" she inquired out of curiosity as he unwrapped her arm; she pushed the pain away before she could manage to squeak in agony.

"Just a guess," he said with a sweet smile. The smile faded as he looked at the cuts, it was replaced with a look of confusion. "Do you know what did this?" he asked after a moment of looking them over.

Sera shook her head, "No, no idea," she sighed. "But it hurts like hell." She cringed, pain running down her arm as he ran his fingers along the cuts. "Can you bandage it back up, please?" she murmured stretching her arm out painfully for him to wrap.

Castiel nodded as he reached for the bandages setting on the night stand beside the bed. He dabbed the cuts with peroxide as lightly as he could, making her try to pull away from him, but his grip was tighter than her pull. "Careful," he murmured softly as he looked at her face, his pale blue eyes full of sympathy, "you'll open them again." He began to wrap the bandage around her upper arm, and she relaxed.

"There you go," he said as he fixed her arm sling. "Be careful," he said warningly. Sera nodded as she got to her feet. There was a knock on the door which made both Sera and Castiel jump in surprise.

"I'll get it," Castiel said looking at Sera, knowing she would try to answer the door. He noticed her shoulders drooping, and felt bad, but said nothing as he headed for the door.

He reached the door with his dark brown leather wallet in hand. "Hello," he said as he opened the door, pulling money out of his wallet. "Michael," he sighed rolling his pale blue eyes as the other angel pushed past him with bags of Chinese food. He had expected the delivery man, not Michael.

"I picked it up," Michael said as he shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't find anything though," he added. He set the bag of food on the small dining table and started rummaging through it for the food. "Sera," he said holding up a Styrofoam box and then set it down on the table beside the bag of Chinese food and then continued to rummage through the bag of food.

Sera walked toward the table, careful not to walk too close to Michael and grabbed her food and then tottered back to the bed. "Thanks," she called from the bedroom as she started to open the box. "What is it?" she asked Castiel. He had a habit of ordering the wrong thing, but only ever for Sera.

"Sweet-n-sour chicken with some beef and broccoli," Castiel answered over his shoulder from the table in the other room before he began to eat his own food. Sera shrugged her shoulders, forgetting about the cuts which made her breath in sharply hoping the other two didn't hear, and started to eat while she listened to Michael and Castiel talk.

"How's her arm?" Michael asked his voice low as if he was hoping Sera wouldn't hear him. But she still heard him and she wasn't too pleased about either.

Castiel shook his head. "I have no idea what he did to it," he muttered. "It doesn't make sense. It should have healed when she had her grace. But it hasn't and it doesn't look too pretty now." He sighed in frustration. "It's getting worse."

Michael's icy-blue eyes dropped guiltily to his food he couldn't bring himself to look at Castiel. "I should have looked at it when it didn't heal in the first place…" he mumbled, a twinge of remorse flickered across his face and faded into displeasure.

"It's not your fault," Castiel argued, sympathy flashed across his eyes and then disappearing just as quickly as it had come. Michael never appreciated Castiel's sympathy, or anyone else's for that matter. "I wouldn't have thought anything of it," he said. Michael shook his head but said nothing. "Look, she doesn't blame you—"

"Yes, she does, I pushed her away from me… I know she's mad," Michael said forcefully as he pushed the food in the Styrofoam around. "I'm not completely oblivious."

"That's debatable," Castiel muttered under his breath as he looked away from Michael, hoping that he didn't catch his words. "It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself." His dark gaze fell back on the archangel.

Michael sighed and pushed his food away from him and stood up. "I'll be back. I need to take a walk." And with that the archangel vanished into thin air with the echoing sound of fluttering wings. Castiel growled in frustration as he pushed his food away from him, staring at the empty space where Michael had just been standing. He was getting tired of Michael's moods, generally the angel was loving, and he always was looking after Sera. But now… Now all he did was stalk off angrily because Sera was mortal and no longer an angel.

"Cas, you alright?" Sera asked from the bed, sounding worried. When Castiel didn't answer she got to her feet and left the Chinese food on the bed. "Cas?" she murmured softly as she walked toward him.

He looked at him, a blank look on his face as if he hadn't realized she was talking to him. "Sorry," he muttered blinking his eyes as he looked at her. "You didn't… You didn't hear that, did you?" he murmured, he hoped she hadn't, but he knew she probably had. No thanks to Michael.

"Yeah, I heard," she said with a sigh. "And it's nobody's fault. If it were to be anyone's it would be my fault. I should have said something when I realized that they weren't healing like they should have," Sera said shaking her head.

Castiel's expression changed, it was full of sympathy and something darker. "It's nobody's fault," he said bluntly. He sighed inwardly. "He'll be back later," he murmured, realizing that she would probably want an explanation was to when Michael would be back.

"I know," Sera said; Michael always came back. "You need anything?" she inquired as she sat down beside the angel at the table. She knew he was upset, between Michael being as rude as he was to her and the state that Alastair had left them in.

He shook his head, his gaze on the carpet. "Sleep, maybe," he said as he shrugged his shoulders. "But you can't make me sleep."

"Knocking you out isn't an option, I assume then," she said holding back a mischievous grin, her golden-amber eyes lighting up in amusement.

Castiel glared at her, his pale blue eyes searching for any hint of seriousness. "I'd appreciate it, if you didn't," he said as he got to his feet.

* * *

Michael cleared his throat from the doorway of the suite. The archangel was leaning up against the doorframe casually. "Not to interrupt, or anything, but there are people waiting outside the door," he muttered with an agitated sigh as he eyed the bed where both Sera and Castiel were laying.

Sera sat up, a look of surprise and embarrassment spreading across her face; her golden-amber eyes were huge in humiliation, she blushed a deep crimson and looked at the floor not wanting to meet Michael's eyes. "Uh, yeah. We'll be right out," she mumbled as she shoved Castiel off the bed when he sat up in the bed, completely dazed.

He fell to the floor and stood up, his face matching Sera's exactly; pure surprise and embarrassment. "Er…" he muttered grabbing for the blankets on the bed. He too made no eye contact with the archangel.

Michael shook his head in disgust. "You idiot," he muttered as he turned away from the door and shut it behind him. He wasn't even trying to hide how upset he was with the two of them, which didn't make Sera or Castiel feel any better.

"Hmm…" Sera muttered as she wrapped a cotton blanket around her shoulders so it draped over them and ended just before her ankles. "He's just a ray of sunshine, isn't he?" she mumbled walking toward the bathroom.

As she shut the door behind her she heard a crash and someone yell, but she couldn't tell if it was Michael or Castiel. She cringed, wondering if Michael had gotten angry with Castiel. She knew Michael would never agree with her on anything that she did with Castiel, especially since the two of them had hated each other for the last three hundred years. Sera hurried to get her clean clothes on and brushed her hair and teeth before she walked cautiously back into the bedroom.

"Everything okay?" she called as she searched the room, her eyes flickering anxiously across the room, hoping she wouldn't see the two angels fighting.

"If okay is an angel sleeping with a human, yes," Michael grumbled from the doorway of the suite, Castiel was standing in front of him now dressed in his normal clothes and looked furious, both of them stood stiffly at the doorframe. The archangel's eyes were lit like blue fires. "What the hell, Castiel? Sera, I expect a whole hell of a lot more from you." Michael's eyes fell on Sera, a look of frustration and repulsion clouding them as if he couldn't believe his best friend would ever do something like that. Because he thought he knew her better than Castiel knew her.

Castiel stared at Michael, his pale blue eyes like the embers of a fire sputtering out. "Oh, as if you were going to make her feel any better," he argued, anger rising in his voice. There was something about his voice that seemed off, as if he couldn't quite justify what he had done. "You put me in charge of her. I'm taking care of her unlike you; you keep walking out every time I mention something about her."

"Oh, yeah, sleeping with her is taking care of her," Michael said, disbelief ringing in his voice as he scoffed. "You two _hate_ each other. Now all the sudden you take an interest in her because she's mortal?" The archangel glared at the lower angel angrily. If Sera hadn't been in the room she was sure that he would have tried to kill the other angel. "That doesn't sound like care to me. It sounds a lot like you're taking advantage of her."

"At least he didn't put someone in charge of me as if I was going to kill someone," Sera said quietly as she tried to keep the anger out of her voice. She had to stand up for Castiel, not because Michael put him in charge of her, but to try to mend the friendship they had. "At least he _tried _to comfort me."

Michael's deathly glare swiveled to her. "Sera, you're hurt. And human. To me that seems like taking advantage. And you both _hated_ each other, for what, three hundred plus years? All the—"

"It's none of your business," Castiel snapped, his pale blue eyes flaming in fury. "Leave it, Michael." Castiel turned away from the archangel, a fire in his eyes. "Now. These people. Who are they?"

Michael was silent for a long moment thinking whether or not to keep arguing or tell him who the people at the door were. "Owners of the hotel, I think," he said, all of the anger now gone from his voice. "Probably wondering what—"

"Nope. Don't," Sera grumbled cutting him off as she pushed past the archangel. She opened the door and said her greetings to the owners of the hotel, but she didn't allow them in, weary that she couldn't sense demons and that these two could be.

"There were complaints of people breaking glass from this room," the owner said, he didn't sound upset or mad, only bored. He wasn't dressed in what Sera would consider 'best'. He wore a plaid shirt with a white undershirt that wasn't even tucked in, and he wore worn torn out blue jeans that had seen better days. His hair was a complete mess as if he had just gotten up.

"Oh yes," Sera said with a sigh as she looked over her shoulder at Castiel and Michael. "Sorry about that. My friend, here, was a little drunk last night."

The owner nodded in boredom, rolling his dark eyes. "Make sure it doesn't happen again," he said before he waltzed away from the door with the other person trailing behind him on his heels. For being the owner of the hotel, he sure didn't seem to put up much of a fight, nor did he seem content on making his visitors cooperate with the others in the building.

"Breaking glass too, hm?" Michael said, his icy-blue eyes lighting up in amusement. A smug grin spread across his lips.

"Shut _up_, Michael," Castiel growled. He was going too far. But then again, Michael always went too far.

"Sounds… Interesting…" Michael carried on, an annoying grin across his face even though he still was furious with Castiel and Sera, that fire was still blazing in his bright blue eyes.

"Just shut up," Sera grumbled as she turned her gaze to the other angel. "Cas… If there's glass on the floor, can you please pick it up?" she sighed. Castiel nodded as he walked away from Sera and Michael and into the bedroom of the suite. "What's your problem?" Sera demanded. "Because I'm tired of you treating me like I'm an idiot—"

"Um… Tell me if I'm wrong… But he _slept_ with you. And you _hate_ him—"

"And I've had three hundred years to forgive him," Sera said irritably. "I can forgive others, Michael, believe it or not. He was once closer to me than I was to you, but he killed Jack and then I pushed him out, and I've realized now that I shouldn't have done that, it shouldn't have taken three hundred years to forgive him."

"But he _slept_ with you. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with that?" Michael asked impatiently, despair replacing the repulsion and frustration in his eyes.

"Yes," Castiel called from the other room with a somewhat cheerful tone to his voice.

Michael sighed. "Fine. Whatever. But don't complain when he leaves you. Again."

Sera only glared at Michael, her golden-amber eyes flaming in fury as she turned away from the archangel, walking back into the bedroom to help Castiel.


	3. A Different Kind of Lead

**A/N: **Anything you recognize from Supernatural isn't mine! And in my opinion, this doesn't go under fanfiction... But a lot of my friends deemed it as fanfiction just because I'm using the characters names from Supernatural... So I decided to think what ya'll think :)

* * *

"Michael," Sera whispered from the doorway of the suite, a laptop balanced lightly on one hand, the other arm held closely to her ribs as if she was protecting it. "I think I found something," she murmured keeping as quiet as she could because Castiel was still sleeping. She knew that even if Michael _was_ upset with her, he would be glad that she had found something that would get her grace back. Castiel would have gladly left Michael on his own if she showed the lower angel the information before she had shown Michael.

There was a tired sigh before Michael sat up, stifling a yawn. His dirty blonde hair was a complete mess as if he'd gone to sleep with it sopping wet and hadn't even tried to fix it, his icy-blue eyes were clouded with confusion and drowsiness. "Like what?" he muttered as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

She walked toward the bed and set the laptop on the comforter in front of him. He blinked, the bright light from the laptop irritating his eyes. "Something to do with Alastair I think," she sighed, wishing that she would never have to say this, "I think he dropped my grace. Somewhere, and on someone."

Michael stifled another yawn and shook his head. "Why would he do that?" he mumbled as he pushed the blankets off of him and leaned forward, squinting at the computer screen.

"I'm not sure we want to know his motives," Sera muttered shaking her head in disgust, "All I know now is there's a newly graced human out there with no idea what happened… And it seems he's having a little too much fun with the new powers he possesses," Sera said, an annoyed look crossing her face. "He's in Virginia," she said, shrugging her good shoulder. "West Point, Virginia, it's near Richmond. Close to the water."

"Boiled several people," Michael said blinking his eyes in amazement. "Not in water I'd presume…" he muttered with a sigh, the amazement fading from his voice. "Okay, so we're going to West Point, Virginia," he said as he looked to his left, to see if Castiel was awake already.

"Don't worry," Sera said noticing that Michael was looking in Castiel's direction. "I didn't tell him yet."

Michael raised his eyebrows in interest, but said nothing as he continued to scroll through the article. "Sounds like it," he said as his eyes fell on Sera. "So, when do we leave?" he inquired as he cracked his knuckles and then pushed the laptop away from him.

"As soon as I'm ready, really," Sera said, her eyes falling away from the archangel. She really _was_ the only reason that Michael and Castiel would have to wait now. And that bothered her, a lot. "I need to eat and have the cuts looked at again," she murmured. "Look through that article more while we wait, there might be something I missed in it," she said as she turned away from him and walked back into the other room.

While Sera was eating, Castiel staggered into the kitchen, his dark hair a mess and his pale blue eyes half open as he started to rummage through empty cupboards. "Cas, what are you looking for?" Sera asked with raised eyebrows.

"Food," he grumbled sleepily, he didn't even turn around to face her. He didn't seem to notice where they were.

"There's no food in the cabinets…" she muttered sighing inwardly. "It's over here," she said picking up a box of cereal and shaking it as she rolled her eyes.

Castiel shook his head. "Don't want that," he muttered and then he vanished into thin air with the rustling of his feathered wings.

"Alright then," she muttered rolling her eyes as she shoveled her spoon full of cereal.

"Better," Castiel said from behind her when he reappeared. The sudden scent of French toast wafted over her. He set the plate of French toast down on the table beside Sera's bowl of cereal. "You can have some if you want," he offered before he tottered away to the bedroom. "Michael, I got French toast."

"I thought I got cereal?" Michael muttered as he walked out of the bedroom fully dressed now. He sounded thoroughly annoyed.

"You can have cereal then, grumpy," Sera said pushing the box to the other side of the table. "Nobody's forcing you to eat the French toast." The archangel snatched the box off the table and started to eat the cereal straight out of the box. "Michael," Sera said giving him the sternest glare she possibly could, "Eat like a _human_," she said sighing heavily. He could at _least_ use his manners.

Michael glared at her, his icy-blue eyes set on her, wondering if he should listen to her or not. He set the box on the table and grabbed a paper bowl from the kitchen counter. "Thank you," Sera muttered as she stood up from the table. She threw her paper bowl in the garbage. "Cas, when you're done can you check my arm?" she inquired as she leaned against the wall next to the bedroom door.

"Mhm," Castiel mumbled through his stuffed mouth of French toast.

She pushed herself off the wall and waltzed into the back room and grabbed the only thing they really carried on them, bandages. She sat on the bed and carefully peeled the bandages on her arm off. The cuts underneath glowed red, which alarmed her, it should have been healing now, not getting worse.

"Lemme see," Castiel murmured sitting down beside her on the bed, taking her by surprise. He breathed in deeply as he looked at it; he was probably thinking the same thing Sera had been. Why weren't the cuts healing? "Does it hurt?" he asked, his pale blue eyes searched Sera's face for any signs of pain.

"Yeah," she said, wishing she could lie, but she didn't want the cuts getting worse, so she let it slide. "A lot of pain." As an angel, she hardly ever felt pain, only on rare occasions, now it was an everyday occurrence.

"It's probably from the bandaging being tugged on so much," Castiel explained as he ran his fingers along the cuts as if his angelic powers would heal the wounds, which they didn't. "Take some Aspirin; we'll get some when we get to West Point." Sera nodded and handed the bandaging to Castiel. He put some Neosporin on the cuts, making her arm sear in pain. "Sorry," he murmured when she cringed. He started to wrap her arm as carefully as he could to try not to cause her anymore pain.

"Ready?" she asked him as he pulled her to her feet gingerly, afraid he would hurt her arm. He gave her a slight nod and then followed her into the dining room. Michael was eating the last two pieces of French toast, drenching them in syrup and powdered sugar. "Michael," Sera said clearing her throat loudly. "I thought you said you didn't want French toast," she muttered shaking her head. Sometimes she really did wonder about him.

"Hungry," he mumbled through a mouthful of French toast.

"Well, I'm ready," Sera said curtly. "So you're ready," she said stubbornly as she grabbed the bags of food off the table. "Now, come on before Mister Paseh boils another person."

* * *

"Chilly," Castiel muttered with hunched shoulders and a flipped up collar of his light brown trench coat as he tried to ward off the coldness of the surrounding air.

"It's close to the water," Sera grumbled rolling her eyes like she had expected to know that it would be cold here. "What did you expect? Nice, sunny days and seventy degree weather?" she inquired harshly though she didn't mean it.

"It would have been nice if it had been," Castiel shivered as he forced himself to straighten and man up to the coldness. "So where is said 'graced' person?" he inquired looking at Sera with questioning pale blue eyes. He expected her to do her research, which she never did on any occasion.

"No idea," Sera said as she looked up at the sky, forcing herself not to slap him for asking even though he already knew that they didn't know where Thomas was. "Why don't we get a hotel room first and _then_ start looking for Thomas Paseh?" she muttered the suggestion.

"Oh and how do you plan on doing this?" Michael muttered from behind Castiel and Sera, as if he had a better idea.

"Carefully," Sera said rolling her golden-amber eyes and scoffing. "Pick up a newspaper if you can," she added over her shoulder as she headed down the road, leaving Castiel and Michael behind, heading for the better part of town.

"Sera, there's a hotel… this way," Michael sighed looking the opposite direction over his shoulder. "Unless you're looking for an expensive hotel…" The archangel said something else but she didn't catch what he said.

Sera grumbled something under her breath and hurried after Castiel and Michael, who were already walking in the other direction toward the hotel. "Do you have any money left?" she asked Castiel as she caught up with them out of curiosity.

"How else would we be getting a room?" he asked with an irritated sigh. "I've got about four hundred dollars left." He dropped the irritated expression and replaced it with a solemn one.

"Hope it's cheap," Sera scoffed as Michael held the hotel door open for Sera and Michael.

The person sitting behind the main desk stood up when he noticed the trio walk in, brushing down his coat to make himself presentable. "How may I help you?" he inquired looking at Castiel, who looked the oldest of the three.

The hotel wasn't as bad looking as it seemed to be outside. The inside was nicely decorated with semi-expensive furniture, but not too expensive because people could easily ruin them. There was even an elevator to Sera's surprise, and of course two stairwells, one to the left wing of the hotel and one to the right wing. It made her wonder how much a room would cost, especially with all the nice décor in the lobby area.

"You got any open suites?" Michael inquired, instantly taking charge and not allowing Castiel to speak. Castiel threw the archangel a look of disapproval, but said nothing.

The man standing behind the desk swiveled his gaze to Michael in surprise. "Let me check," he mumbled with a sigh. He typed in a few entries before looking up at Michael again, his golden-yellow eyes searching his face to see if he was just messing with him, but found nothing. "Yes, we do. Room 250. Second floor on the left wing," he said gesturing with his head to the left side of the hotel as Castiel handed him a credit card. He handed Castiel the key to the hotel room and his credit card back after he swiped the card. "Have a good afternoon."

Michael completely ignored him and headed toward the stairwell. Castiel gave a slight nod to the man and a small smile as if too apologize for Michael's behavior and then followed Michael, which earned them both a look of confusion from the man behind the desk. Sera followed them with her head hanging in shame. The boys had hardly any manners, especially toward humans. It bothered Sera since their vessels were humans.

"You know," Sera muttered, she sounded upset, as they continued to walk up the steps, "Michael, you really could have held your tongue. You confused that poor guy. You _do_ realize that you only look seventeen years old and our dear Cas looks ten years older than that." Castiel cringed at her words, as if he should have stopped Michael and spoken up, and the fact that Sera was correcting them once again for their behavior.

"Yeah," Michael muttered without looking back at Sera, "well at least I know my responsibilities." It seemed as if that would always be his excuse, Castiel messed up once, and it would now be a common reference used so Michael could hold himself higher than Castiel. Michael continued up the stairs with a look of annoyance clouding his face. "Castiel, gimme the key or walk faster," the archangel grumbled.

"Stop walking so fast," Castiel shot back, he didn't slow his pace nor did he walk any faster. He didn't sound annoyed, only a little troubled.

"Stop arguing," Sera sighed as she pulled the key from Castiel's hand. She hurried ahead, ignoring the looks Michael and Castiel gave her. Sera turned toward the angels with a sigh after she unlocked the door. "Either of you grab a newspaper?" she inquired looking at their hands to see if they'd grabbed anything at all, she figured they hadn't. Neither of them move and neither of them had a newspaper in their hands. "Alright… I'll go get it," she muttered a look of displeasure ran across her face as she shoved the key to the hotel room into Castiel's hand.

Michael grabbed her by the shoulder which made her squeak in pain and try to take a step backwards, "Sorry," he said quickly and a lot louder than he had meant to one he had realized that he'd just pulled on her bad shoulder. "Just stay up here, I'll get it," he murmured ducking his head in embarrassment.

The hotel room was dark and gloomy, nothing compared to Sera's house. But it would pass for their short stay. There was a small kitchen with an attached dining room, and two doors to what she assumed would be different bedrooms. Michael would have something to say about that she was sure.

Sera ran her hand along her shoulder, pain clouding her eyes, tears watering behind her eyes. "Come on," Castiel said taking her by her unwounded hand and leading her into the suite. He shot Michael a look of annoyance over his shoulder sending the archangel on his way. "You okay?" Castiel asked quietly, worry coating his voice as Michael closed the door almost all the way behind him.

"It feels like he ripped my shoulder off," she muttered closing her eyes as she lay on her back on the bed. "So, no, not really."

"He didn't mean to do that," Castiel murmured apologetically in Michael's stead; Michael would never mean his apologies no matter how meaningful he sounded. "He's still having a hard time." He didn't need to go on any further for Sera to understand what he meant. He was talking about Sera's grace being taken away, and the fact that Michael didn't like her being a mortal, not that he would ever anyways. Nothing could change the fact that Michael hated humans.

Sera's mouth twitched, as if she wanted to say something, but she stayed silent for a moment longer. Finally she opened her eyes and propped herself up painfully. "You're not?" she inquired, her confused gaze settled on Castiel.

"We've seen things like this happen," Castiel said shrugging his shoulders as he looked away from her, not wanting her to see his expression. "And I know you, even after three hundred years of not speaking, you're no different than when you were a seraph," he said, he seemed to almost choke on the word _seraph_.

Sera flinched when he said seraph but spoke anyways. "But… He knows it could have happened—" There were always possibilities of the angels losing their grace or wings, no matter how strong they might be.

"Sera, Michael is in love with you," Castiel said cutting her off, a look of blank surprise crossing her face. "He can't bear to see you as a human, when he's only ever seen you as an angel." He sighed when Sera said nothing. He sounded like he spoke from experience. "You didn't know, did you?" he murmured, now wishing he hadn't spoken because Michael would be very upset if Sera made a big deal about it.

"I have more important things to deal with than a lovesick archangel," Sera grumbled, giving him the sternest glare she could manage. "So no, I didn't know. Nor do I really care. He knows emotions cost us our grace and wings." Her glare hardened, like that would ward Michael away.

Castiel shook his head with a small smile of empathy. "So loving God will cost us our grace and wings?" he inquired, his pale blue eyes lit up, he knew the question would make her ponder on the situation.

Sera scowled at him and scoffed. "No, that's different—"

"Sera, it's not really," Castiel murmured cutting her off again. "Having your own ideas, rebelling against his word, that will cost you that, but love?" He shook his head with a smug smile on his face. "No, if anything that would make him proud. That someone took that leap and hope to God that they wouldn't be cast down for doing something that came from the heart." His last sentence made him sound like he was speaking from personal experience; either that or he was speaking from his heart, neither of which Sera got to hear often.

"Would it make you proud?" Sera inquired after a moment of silence with raised eyebrows. She already knew the answer, but she wanted to him say it.

"To see you actually love someone? Yes. Him? That's debatable," he sighed. Of course, Castiel would have problems with Sera being with Michael. The archangel was a complete idiot sometimes and he was very rude as well, not only that but he was clueless half the time. "You've always been good about the 'no emotion' rule. You're one of the few who've stuck to it to the best of their efforts." Sera stared at him, a look of confusion in her eyes.

"At it again?" Michael asked from the doorway a smirk on his lips. The question was mainly aimed at Castiel, in which he received a murderous glare from Sera.

The archangel threw the newspaper at Castiel, who caught it effortlessly. "No," Castiel said, he wore a hardened look and sounded annoyed, "but thanks for asking." He handed Sera the newspaper, his blue eyes still on Michael.

Michael glared at Castiel but said nothing. He crossed the room and grabbed Sera's laptop. "Anything new?" he inquired looking at Sera as he opened it and set it down on the table beside the bed.

Sera shook her head, flipping through the newspaper. "Nothing," she muttered without looking up at the archangel. "Look up Thomas Paseh. We need to know where he's staying."

Michael gave Castiel a look of confusion before he shook his head and started to search the internet for Thomas's details. "He lives at 718 Lee Street, West Point, Virginia," he said after a few moments of searching the internet.

"Should we go now?" Castiel murmured, his eyes darting between Michael and Sera in question.

Sera shook her head; she didn't look up from the newspaper still a she skimmed the articles. "No, wait until tomorrow. We need to be sure this is the guy," she said.

"I can go and meet him," Michael suggested shrugging his shoulders, his eyes set on Sera. "I'll be able to tell," he murmured.

Sera looked up at Castiel, who nodded, agreeing with Michael. "Alright," he said as he fixed the collar on his trench coat. "Be back here by seven, I plan on eating. I'm getting soup tonight."

Michael nodded. "I'll try," he said as he handed Sera the laptop, who pushed it off to the side of the bed. "If I'm not home by then, call me. I'll have my cell phone on me." The archangel swiveled toward the door. "Try to get things done too," he called after him and then disappeared leaving them with the sound of rustling wings.

Castiel sighed as he shook his head. "Hope he doesn't try anything stupid," he muttered getting to his feet.


	4. An Unfriendly Dinner

**A/N: **Anything that you recognize from Supernatural isn't mine! And a little background to Jack because not a lot of people would understand what's going on here between Castiel and Sera...  
Jack was Sera's assignment once upon a time, when she was a guardian angel... And Castiel, who was like her partner at the time, saw that he was doing something pretty bad things. Sera was trying to stop Jack from what he was doing, but Castiel got in the way and killed him. Sera got really mad/upset with Castiel for killing Jack *who taught her a lot of what she does/acts like today* so she pretty much told him 'Get out, or I'll kill you.' This was three hundred years before the current time of the story *which is supposed to be 2013-ish*

* * *

There was a loud, short knock on the door, waking Sera up from her nap. Castiel was already at the door allowing Michael and another teenager in when Sera sat up.

"Hello," Sera murmured as she stifled a yawn. The boy didn't look much older than Michael. He had dark brown hair, almost black, that reminded her of Jack and bright green eyes the color of new spring leaves. His appearance altogether reminded her of Jack.

Jack had once upon a time been Sera's assignment that had gone horribly wrong. She was forced to watch over him and _try_ to fix his actions, but she couldn't get him to listen. Nobody had blamed her for what happened, sometimes it was terribly hard to control humans… But she still continuously blamed herself for not taking care of him like she should have, instead someone else had to step in and take the actions that she couldn't make herself do.

"Hi," he said as his eyes searched the suite as if he was looking for something. "Thomas Paseh," he said introducing himself. "You are?" he inquired his eyes darting back and forth between Castiel and Sera.

"I'm Castiel," the angel said, holding a hand out for Thomas to shake, which Thomas shook gratefully with a friendly smile.

"I'm Sera," she said from the bed, eyeing the teenager, he even sounded like Jack.

"Where's the soup?" Michael grumbled as he searched the kitchen of the suite, completely ignoring the fact that Thomas was still there.

"Well, hello, Michael," Castiel grumbled shaking his head; he mumbled something else under his breath that nobody else caught. He sighed and then straightened up, losing the annoyed expression. "I haven't ordered it yet. I didn't know when you were going to be back," he explained.

"Hm. Oh well," Michael sighed as he turned his back to the counter, his hands in his pockets. "You can sit," he offered to Thomas. Sera patted the bed in a gesture for him to sit.

"How long you been here?" she inquired curiously as he sat down next to her on the bed.

"Moved here about a year ago," Thomas said cracking his knuckles, "I've been visiting here for years. Girlfriend lives here."

Michael made a face at Sera, which she ignored completely. "Ah…" she murmured. "How old are you?" she asked after a moment, confusion rising in her voice. How could he be the same age as Michael, and yet be out of high school. Even if he _was_ nineteen, he couldn't hardly be out of high school.

"I'm eighteen," he said as he propped himself on his hands, his green eyes fell on her. "Put in advanced placement classes, graduated early, then moved in with my girlfriend during senior year, finished school and then started college here this year."

"What college?" Castiel asked, he sounded interested, but Sera knew better than to think he actually was. Castiel had a way of making talk, even when he really didn't want to or need to, and sometimes it was completely useless and extremely annoying.

"Community college," Thomas said shrugging his shoulders as if it really didn't matter. "Been easy mostly, lots of fun," he added with a mischievous smile which disappeared quickly. "How do you all know each other?" he inquired curiously.

That wouldn't be the first time Sera or Michael had been asked about their past. They certainly didn't act the same to have grown up together, and their accents were completely different, which didn't help their cases. But of course they had known each other for what the humans would have called 'forever'; pretty much since the beginning of the Garden of Eden Sera and Michael had been there, and Castiel as well.

"Oh, I grew up with Sera," Michael said a grin crossed his face, which made Sera dread what he was going to say next. "Those two are dating." The archangel bit his lip trying not to laugh, his face brightened. At least Michael was _trying_ to act like a mortal. Sera had to give him credit for that, but she still threw him a deadly glare.

"Oh?" Thomas said in surprise as he looked at Castiel as if something was wrong here.

"Yeah," Sera said, trying to keep a straight face, wishing Michael would keep his thoughts to himself. "We met about three years ago. He's a good guy." The archangel was notorious for saying things in the wrong definition, normally how he saw things instead of what they really were.

Castiel stood there, staring at Michael, a look of pure hatred pulsing through his eyes. "I'm only twenty-five," he murmured, his eyes falling to the ground, the hatred dissipating. He said it as if he didn't really understand the difference between being human ages.

Sera had only just realized that she and Castiel together in this world looked so wrong. A sixteen year old and a twenty-five year old dating, that's what it looked like, but that wasn't it at all, they were both thousands of years old. Sera blushed, wishing she could hit Michael for his annoyingness.

"Can you order the soup now?" Michael asked impatiently as he looked at Castiel. Castiel stopped glaring at Michael and disappeared outside of the door to make the call without a sound.

"So you two are together?" Thomas said curiously when Castiel was gone. Sera nodded, feeling weird as she did so. "How long?" he inquired. She wasn't sure if he was just curious or if he was trying to make talk.

"Oh, about a day," Michael said with a shining smile of innocence. Sera knew that Michael was going to say something wrong. "I walked in on—"

"Michael," Sera muttered with a hand to her face, hiding it from Thomas and Michael in embarrassment.

"—them yesterday," Michael finished, his content smile grew. "Sorry, Sera." His smile said otherwise.

"Mhm," Sera mumbled as she moved her arm painfully before it could fall asleep, pulling on the bandages a little too much. "Oh… Michael, can you look at my arm, please?" she asked when she saw the bandages looked messed up and her blood was seeping through them.

"What happened?" Thomas asked worriedly looking at her arm, when he received no reply he continued, "I'm trained… If you want me to look," he added with a look of sympathy. Sera was really getting tired of that look from everyone.

"Oh," Sera said, her heart dropped. Jack had been a doctor when he'd been alive, once again reminding her of her horrible past. "Yes, please," she murmured. She pulled the arm sling off from around her neck painfully, trying hard not to harm her arm anymore.

"Be careful," Michael murmured anxiously as he leaned back against the kitchen counter, watching Thomas like a hawk, as if he expected him to hurt Sera.

Thomas nodded as he peeled away the bandages on her arm, the cuts still glowed red, they hadn't healed at all. "Ouch, looks painful," Thomas murmured as he looked it over. "What happened?" he asked, his worried green eyes searched her face for answers, where he found none, due to her lack of expression.

Sera shook her head. "We don't know," she murmured with an inward sigh. "We were traveling, but we have no idea what did it." She flinched as he ran his fingers along the cut, as if he expected it to heal. She knew exactly what he was trying to do, and knew that it wasn't going to work either.

"Sorry," he murmured softly as he examined the cut more thoroughly. "I think there's an infection. Michael? Have you done anything to try to prevent it?" he inquired as he looked at the archangel, whose expression changed from worry to desperate fear.

"I put peroxide on it," Michael said, now wearing a terrified expression realizing what that could mean for Sera. "I think Cas put some Neosporin on it." Sera nodded in agreement. "Nothing else though." He sounded like he wished he wished he had done something about it, but it was far too late for that.

Sera wanted to say Castiel had tried to heal it with his powers, but she didn't know if she could trust Thomas just yet, nor if he would believe her when she said it. "I thought it was going away." She looked away with tears welling at her eyes. Sera would never let Michael see her that way, not if she could help it.

Thomas shook his head in confusion. "It should be healing," he murmured worry rising in his voice when he noticed nothing was happening to her arm.

"What do you mean?" Michael inquired raising an eyebrow in curiosity, though he was sure he already knew what Thomas meant. His angelic powers weren't healing Sera's wounds.

"I—I um… I've got powers to heal," Thomas stammered assuming they wouldn't believe him. "Look, you don't have to believe—"

"No, I believe you," Michael said, cutting Thomas off. "We've already tried that."

Thomas's eyes widened in surprise and then more confusion. "I—Wait… What?" he muttered, realizing what Michael had said.

"You have the grace of an angel," Michael explained, hoping Thomas would believe him; he knew how crazy it sounded. "Her," he said pointing toward Sera, "grace."

"Wait, so, she's an angel?" Thomas inquired looking at Sera in amazement

"Seraph," she corrected with a hardened glare. "Without my grace," she murmured quiet enough that the others didn't catch her words.

"And you? What are you?" he murmured looking at Michael again.

"I'm an angel. An archangel," Michael muttered reluctantly, knowing Thomas could turn on them and he could use this new found information against them. "Castiel is an angel as well."

"And me?" Thomas asked his green eyes clouded with confusion and wonder.

"Just a human with an angel's grace," Michael said with a sigh. "When'd this start?" He had to be sure it was Sera's grace, otherwise they'd be back at square one.

Thomas wrapped Sera's arm before he spoke. "Two days ago," he murmured looking at the archangel. "Why?" he asked, he sounded small.

Sera's face fell, tears in her eyes again. She couldn't help it. "Yeah. My grace," she murmured, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

"But… How did that even happen?" Thomas asked, trying to understand what they were saying. At least he believed them, that was a start.

Sera and Michael both shook their heads. "We don't know," Michael said shrugging his shoulders. "We're trying to figure it out. All we know is Alastair took Sera's grace and dropped it off with you. No idea why or how."

"And you want it back," Thomas murmured as Castiel walked back into the hotel room with his cell phone clutched in his hand.

"Want what back?" the angel inquired, he sounded confused.

"My grace," Sera murmured her eyes finding interest in the carpeted floor.

Castiel's shoulders drooped hearing those words. "Oh," he sighed. He came and stood by Sera, hoping to comfort her, his arm around her shoulders in an embrace. "Soup'll be here in twenty minutes," he murmured as he dared to look at Michael, who was grinning at Castiel for embracing Sera.

Michael nodded. "Soup's just what we need," he said trying to sound cheerful.

"Arm hurt?" Castiel inquired quietly.

Sera nodded slowly. "Thomas said it was infected," she murmured looking at Castiel. She sounded tired and in a lot of pain, something she would have normally tried to hide. "I hope to God that it heals." She stopped talking, wondering about what would happen if the cuts didn't heal.

Castiel shook his head, obviously not wanting to hear that. "It'll heal," he promised his pale blue eyes lit up. "And if not," he murmured, his eyes softened, "I'll be here for you. I promise."

"Oi," Michael called with an irritated attitude, "lovebirds. Take yourselves elsewhere." He crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I have to pay for your soup," Castiel said, in a matter-of-fact tone as he looked back at Michael, "otherwise you're not getting soup." His eyes challenging Michael to say otherwise.

Michael sighed and rolled his eyes. "Of course," he muttered giving up on the idea. "Oh well."

"Where are you from?" Castiel asked raising an eyebrow in interest as he turned his dark gaze on Thomas. Once again, Sera could tell he wasn't really interested in knowing, only making small talk.

"Albany," Thomas said he said it as if it were a bad place, "Grew up there. Turned sixteen and then moved to Richmond, went there junior year until I graduated, then moved here."

"East Coast guy, huh?" Michael said with his usual annoyingly charming grin. "Those are the best."

Thomas laughed cheerfully. "Guessing since you're angels you've been a lot of places?" he murmured, his eyes darting between Castiel and Michael.

"Well Castiel and Sera tend to stay in America, I travel elsewhere from time to time," Michael explained as simplified as he could. "And really, those two aren't dating, well unless I've missed something…?" Sera threw Michael a menacing glare, forcing her tears away. "Okay, nope, I haven't missed anything. But they've known each other for thousands of years; I've known them separately for double of the time they've known each other."

"They're friends then?" Thomas said, though it was more of a question then a statement.

"I'm pretty sure those two are more than friends," Michael chuckled as he threw Sera his usual charmingly annoying grin. "Although we're not always on the best of terms," he trailed off as his gaze fell between Castiel and Sera.

Castiel was about to say something when there was a knock on the door, which made Sera jump in surprise and grab her arm out of anxiety. Michael hurried to the door, hoping it was his soup. "For Pete's sake, Michael," Castiel sighed as he grabbed his wallet.

Michael came back in from the door carrying cups of soup with a happy little smile playing on his lips. "Soup time!" he called as Castiel walked back into the hotel room with his wallet and the receipt in hand and an annoyed look directed at Michael.

"What kind?" Thomas asked curiously as he got to his feet, careful not to move the bed too much and make Sera hurt her arm worse.

"Chicken noodle, broccoli cheese, wonton, and more chicken noodle soup," Michael said listing off the labels on the cups of soup. "And Ramen." He said Ramen as if the word was poisonous, but the sounded a lot more excited about the chicken noodle soup.

"Mmm," Sera murmured happily from the bed. "I call broccoli cheese!"

"You can have it," Michael said in disgust pushing the broccoli cheese soup off to the side. "All I need is my chicken noodle soup." Castiel and Thomas grabbed cups of soup from the counter, Castiel more stealthily than Thomas. "Oi!" he yelled after Castiel, a very clear unhappiness rising in his voice. "Stop taking my soup!"

"Too bad," Castiel murmured as he handed Sera her cup of soup without looking back at the archangel. "It's not like you were going to eat both," he said as he shrugged his shoulders, sitting down beside Sera on the bed.

"Maybe I was," Michael muttered as he began to stir his soup in the cup and then leaned back against the kitchen counter again, still happy that he got his soup.

"Oh, well hello boys and our little graceless angel," the sly voice of Alastair rang throughout the room as a slight cool breeze ran through the room.

Michael jumped and almost dropped his soup, the broth of the chicken noodle soup spilling down the front of his shirt making him cringe in pain from the hot broth. "Damn it, Alastair," he growled, looking up at Alastair with a murderous glare, upset mainly over his soup. Of course, he would be more upset over soup than the Inquisitor of _Hell_ showing up in their hotel room.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" he inquired, but he wore a look of no interest, completely ignoring the deathly glares from Michael. "No, no. I just came to see how our graceless angel and graced human were holding up." He grinned knowing Sera was furious despite the calm expression she wore. "Castiel, hold your little girl back, I think she might slap me. Oh. Wait. She can't." He smiled devilishly.

Castiel's gaze darkened, blazing flames burning in his eyes. "You have no right to be here, Alastair," he growled as he stood up from the bed, completely forgetting about the soup. "I should kill you, right here, right now—"

"But you won't," Alastair grinned, his dark eyes dancing mischievously. "Because your little angel needs her grace, and you know I'm the only one who can do it."

Sera and Michael looked at Castiel, both looked confused and surprised. "You knew that he could do it?" Michael asked in disbelief. It was almost as if the archangel had expected to hear everything the lower angel though, which he couldn't even make himself do.

"I thought… Maybe he could," Castiel murmured his gaze darkened ever further and the flames in his eyes sputtered out as they skimmed the floor and then back to Alastair. "I was going to say something about it," he added as he looked at the ground in shame again.

"But why would I do that?" Alastair inquired scornfully, his dark eyes like bonfires in a dry meadow. "What does an angel have that I would want?" The question was rhetorical, Alastair sounded as if he were mocking them.

"Nothing we'd give willfully," Sera said as she glared at the inquisitor, no sound of her former concern and anxiety left in her voice. "I assume you know what's wrong with my arm as well then," she growled, her golden-amber eyes darkening.

"Yes," he said grinning as if he was a genius. "Demon venom. It never heals. And it kills you very slowly and very painfully. It even kills angels." Sera's deathly glare swiveled toward Castiel and was replaced by despair. "Oh, your little angel boy can't do anything," he smiled. "He's useless to you. You're going to die." He shrugged his shoulders with a content smile.

Sera forced a calm expression. "Alastair, you _demon_. Who _purposefully_ kills angel with demon venom?" she spat. She knew that a lot of times throughout history demon venom had been used to kill prophets and angels by demons, but she hadn't expected it from Alastair, who seemed to hold himself higher than the other demons of hell.

"Me," Alastair said cheerfully. "I can stop the venom, if you decide to hand over what I want," he said, his dark eyes sparking up with the idea of a deal in mind.

"Which is?" Sera muttered, not amused. She didn't sound like she really wanted to know either, and she was definitely sure she wouldn't make the deal anyways.

"Oh, you know. Your grace," he said, his eyes lit up in amusement, knowing she would disagree.

"Forget it," Sera growled. "I'd rather die than let you have it."

"Good, because you will," Alastair said gleefully, a grin on his lips. "Well," he sighed, "it was a lovely chat. Call me if you change your mind. Goodbye."

"I hate him," Castiel muttered as he looked at the ground when the inquisitor had gone. "I'm sorry," he murmured looking at Sera, who had tears running down her cheeks now. She had attempted to turn her face away from Michael, but it wouldn't matter, Michael would be able to sense something was wrong, even for how clueless he usually was.

"No, we'll find a way," Michael promised, he sounded very worried but determined. "She's not dying. Not on my watch." He shook his head, sending his blonde hair in a mess flurry, but he didn't mind, nor would anyone else. They were all too busy worrying over Sera.

Sera peered at Michael with a saddening look. "There's no use," she sighed shaking her head, her golden-brown curls bouncing as she did so. "I'm going to die and there's nothing you can do about it." She sounded as if she just wanted to give up now and curl up in a corner.

Thomas cocked his head to the side. "Crowley?" he inquired, he sounded confused but confident in what he was saying, even though the name was unknown to him.

"How do you know that—" Castiel cut himself off before he went on any further, sudden anger rising in his voice. "–Name?" he said trying to keep himself calm.

Thomas shook his head. "It just popped into my head," he said shrugging his shoulders.

"Is Crowley worth a try?" Michael asked looking at Castiel.

Castiel held a look of hatred and repulsion, Sera knew he hated Crowley. "By my standards? No, but if he can help Sera… It's worth it," he murmured, though he still didn't sound like he liked the idea. "I can't guarantee he'll help though," he added. He bit his lip as he looked at Sera. "Is that okay with you?" he asked, realizing he hadn't checked with her to make sure it was alright with her.

Sera nodded stiffly, she didn't appear to like the idea either. "Yeah," she sniffled.

"So where's Crowley?" Thomas inquired with his head still cocked to the side. "I mean, who is he?"

"King of Hell," Castiel explained with an unhappy sigh. "He has to be summoned. Well, or he can just show up," he muttered rolling his eyes.

"Just show up?" Thomas murmured. He didn't quite understand what Castiel meant.

"Yes," Michael grumbled, he didn't like the idea either, but if it meant helping Sera… Then it was worth a shot. "Like if I was to say, 'Oh, Great King of Hell, won't you bring your wonderful self, down to Earth so we may greet you with our lovely knives and sticks?'" Michael made a face as if the words tainted him with demons.

"You called?" said the familiar raspy voice of Crowley as a man dressed in a causal suit appeared in the room alongside Thomas, whom he completely ignored. "You flirt too much," he said gruffly to Michael, he snorted in amusement at his own words.

Michael rolled his menacing eyes. "Yeah, like that," he muttered in disgust, shaking his head. "Hello, Crowley." He spoke without pleasure, though he knew in order to get Crowley to help them, he would have to be… Civil.

Crowley looked over the four others in the room. "Sera," he greeted, he seemed hesitant of what he said as if he were afraid he would be smote down for saying something wrong. "You seem… Different…"

"Yeah," she said bitterly, her golden-amber eyes set on him for a short moment, "Alastair took my grace."

Crowley looked impressed for a moment, but the expression faded away quickly, trying not to anger the angels. "Ah, I thought it was just a rumor. But that would explain Mister Paseh, here." Crowley looked at Thomas for a moment and then he turned his dark gaze back to Sera. "Smells like an angel. And something else, I can't put my finger on it…" The King of Hell shook his head and continued on with what he had initially stared on about. "Anyways, you wanted me for something, probably other than just telling you the obvious." The king's eyes floated toward Castiel, expecting that he'd be the one talking.

"Yeah," Castiel said stiffly, as he tried to keep calm, which he was failing at. "Sera's arm; is there anything you can do for it?" he asked rigidly.

Crowley shifted his gaze back to Sera. "Can I see your arm?" he sighed knowing Sera wouldn't let him touch her arm without her permission. Sera nodded, though he could tell she was reluctant. "Demon venom," he murmured as he looked at it. "Takes some serious mojo to get it all out," Crowley murmured looking at Sera, he looked upset, whether it was real or not, Sera couldn't tell. "I can try to pull it out. But what can you give me in return?" he asked curiously with a raised eyebrow.

Michael looked at Castiel and Sera in anxiousness. "What do you want?" he inquired, he sounded tired, almost like he was tired of asking the question.

"Well, I could be pretty busy with Mister Paseh. Of course, I'd let you get your grace back first," he said, his blue eyes set on Sera. "I know who you think he is. He isn't Jack. Jack's dead and he won't be coming back." There was little sympathy in his voice; he knew that Jack was still a sore spot for Sera, even if it had been three hundred years. "What do you say?" the King of Hell inquired without looking at Thomas for permission.

Sera looked at Thomas, an expression of defeat in her eyes. "He's… He's not up for dealing."

Crowley sighed impatiently. "Then what do you propose?" he inquired trying to refrain from sounding irritated. "You have to deal something; I can't just give you a freebie. Do you know what that would do to my reputation?" he muttered shaking his head.

Castiel pulled something shiny and metallic out of his trench coat hesitantly. "Take it," he muttered with the blade swinging slightly, he didn't seem to want to give up the blade, but Sera's life was in the balance. Crowley blinked in surprise and reached for the blade uncertainly, as if he was afraid that Castiel would turn on him and stab him. "Good enough of a deal?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Crowley murmured eyeing the blade before he tucked it away in his coat. "Now, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to remove it all, but I can try," he said looking up at Castiel. "And it won't be painless either."

Sera nodded in determination. "As long as it won't kill me," she murmured holding her arm out for Crowley.

"Castiel, I suggest holding her down," Crowley said eyeing the angel for a moment. "And Michael, I need a knife and a towel," he said looking over his shoulder at the archangel.

Michael nodded and walked out of the room and came back with a white towel with a worried expression spreading across his face. "Kitchen knife?" he asked weakly hoping Crowley didn't mean a seraph blade.

"Yeah," Crowley murmured nodding, "that'll do. Lay back, I'll put the towel under your arm, sorry if it hurts," he said to Sera, his blue eyes were riddled with doubt as Sera laid back. He didn't truly sound like he was sorry, but Sera knew any pain that he caused her was unintentional, at least this time it wasn't.

"Here," Michael murmured handing Crowley the knife and white towel.

"Dear… You had to get a white towel," Crowley sighed shaking his head. "That'll do," he murmured as he looked the towel and then spread it out under her arm gently. He took a deep breath before he made the incision along Sera's arm white the sharp blade, his arm never shaking. She tried to pull away, but Castiel held her down. Crowley put his hand above the cut he'd made and started chanting, making Sera whimper in pain and then she relaxed, going unconscious. "I think I've done it," Crowley murmured as he looked up at Castiel again. "Try."

Castiel nodded obediently, even as much as he hated Crowley, he listened. He placed his hand on Sera's forehead and then along the cuts on her arm. The cuts started to heal, though they were closing at a slow pace, they were still visibly healing at a steady pace. Castiel let out a sigh of relief as he looked up at Crowley for a brief moment. "Thank you," he murmured stiffly, his pale blue eyes falling to the floor, wishing he didn't have to say his thanks to him.

Crowley nodded accepting the thanks. "Now, if it doesn't heal all the way, just give it some time. Nothing like that should heal fully in a day," he said shaking his head as he looked at Sera's arm. "Keep bandages on her arm as well, even if it's going to heal, it'll be sore for a few more days. She'll probably sleep a while as well."

"Alright, thanks Doctor Crowley," Michael said sarcastically even though he did mean it. "See you around," he murmured waving his hand in a kind of salute.

Crowley disappeared from the room, leaving Michael staring at Castiel. "So what do we do next?" he murmured with a sigh. "We can't just leave her here, but we shouldn't be waiting around for her to wake up." Michael's icy blue eyes fell on Sera for a moment before returning to Castiel. Michael was always so impatient, sometimes it was unneeded and it was usually annoying.

Castiel sighed heavily. "Well, first thing's first, Thomas needs to go home," the lower ranking angel murmured, his eyes rested on the human. "And then, we have to wait. I don't have my angel blade anymore and I don't know where Sera keeps hers. Even if I did, I wouldn't just be taking it… She'd kill me. With the blade."

"Alright," Michael said nodding with a little bit of an amused smirk, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come. "Thomas, you want me to come with you, or are you good?"

"I'm good," Thomas said shaking his head, "Sorry for any trouble I've caused," he murmured before he headed toward the door of the hotel room.


	5. A Decision and A Demon

**A/N**: Anything you recognize from Supernatural isn't mine! There's a little more explaining on what happened between Castiel, Sera and Jack in this chapter. And a nice cliff hanger for ya'll :)

* * *

Castiel sat beside Sera on the bed watching her while she rested with a look of empathy. She had finally become conscious again, and her breathing told him that she was sleeping, her breaths slow and steady. She was constantly twitching like she was having a bad dream, he wished he could stop that, but there was nothing he could do for her. And her arm had almost completely healed, only certain parts of the cuts hadn't healed fully yet, other parts were just pale scars, for which he was tremendously grateful for. It meant that they would be able to travel easier and they wouldn't have to worry about Sera being unable to fight.

"Castiel," Michael called from the other room loudly, totally ignoring the fact that Sera was sleeping. "We need to decide what we're going to do about Sera and Alastair." The archangel walked into the main room where Castiel and Sera were, holding Sera's messenger bag loosely in his left hand.

"We need to wait for Sera to wake up," Castiel murmured trying to stay quiet so he wouldn't wake her up. He knew that if they woke Sera up there would be a world of pain coming for the both of them, even if it had been Michael's idea.

"Then wake her up." Michael didn't seem to care that Sera was sleeping.

"Crowley said she needed rest—" Castiel mumbled, his blue eyes fell to Sera. He wished he didn't have to listen to Crowley's orders, but it was for Sera's own good. She would heal quicker this way.

"Are you seriously going to listen to _him_?" Michael asked, he sounded annoyed and a little surprised that Castiel would actually listen to Crowley. They didn't exactly get along well.

"If she didn't need rest, she'd be up already," Castiel muttered, his blue eyes shining menacingly. He did have a point there. "If she's not awake in fifteen minutes, I'll wake her up." Michael had won. Again.

Michael sighed but nodded, still unhappy that Castiel wasn't waking Sera up right now, like he wanted him to do. "Alright," he murmured. "But get everything together. We're leaving as soon as she's up."

Castiel rolled his eyes; Michael had the stupidest ideas sometimes. "Yeah, you have fun telling that to Sera," he said with a snort of amusement. Sera didn't generally listen, even if she was hurt and without her grace, she would act as if she was fine and still ignore Michael's orders, like she normally did.

"I will," Michael shot back with an irritated glare as he picked up Sera's laptop bag off the dining room table and set her messenger bag down in its place, obviously not realizing that Castiel was joking. "Hand me her laptop," he said as he held his hand out to take the computer. Castiel handed Michael the laptop with an annoyed look, clearly wishing Michael would slow down and think about what he was doing. Michael cleared his throat. "You know, if you'd quit watching over her like she was dying maybe she'd be nicer to both of us," he muttered rolling his eyes.

He looked at the archangel, amusement dancing in his eyes. "Sera? Be nice? To us?" Castiel shook his head. He knew that Sera would _never_ play fair with the angels, even if she was forced to, she would find a way around it. "I think you've got the wrong angel in mind, Michael," he chuckled as he pushed himself off the bed carefully so he wouldn't wake Sera up. "I'll give her this; she can be pretty charming at times, when she wants something. But there is no nice side to Sera." The angel rubbed his forehead as if he couldn't believe he was saying these words about his former friend. "She's tough, and she gets orders, she finds ways around the original plans, and makes her own up. Do you know why that is?" Castiel inquired his voice low as his pale blue eyes fell to the sleeping graceless angel, sympathy clouding his eyes as he remembered something that Michael couldn't even fathom. Michael jerked his head to the side slightly. "Because Jack taught her that you don't have to follow orders if it'll get you killed. You find a different way around it and you live, you might get in trouble for what you've done. But you live. And that's what counted." There was a sorrow in his voice, as he remembered what he had done, what he wished he hadn't done.

"It's been three hundred years," Michael muttered as he scoffed at the lower angel. "She can move on. Jack was just a human. He wasn't—"

Michael would never understand what had happened between Sera, Castiel and Jack. And it wasn't exactly his fault for not knowing… Sera didn't tell him anything about her time with Castiel, because she was ashamed of it. Not ashamed of Castiel, but ashamed of herself.

Castiel's deathly glare cut Michael off. "Jack wasn't _just _a human. He taught Sera to see things differently. I don't care if you don't like humans, but you sure as hell need to let it go, because Sera might not get her grace back. And then where would you be?" Castiel looked menacing, it wasn't just the fact that Michael didn't like humans, it was the distrust he had for them, even when he hardly dealt with them when Sera could be stuck as one. It was as if they were a poison to the archangel. And humans had shaped the Sera that Michael was in love with, if she had never met the mortals, then she would be stone cold and something unlovable. "You would be back up in Heaven crying over her."

Michael opened his mouth to speak but said nothing, he was lost at words.

"Oh for God's sake," Sera muttered sleepily, only her mouth moved. "Get over your problems. I'm tired of your arguing. Especially when I'm trying to sleep," she mumbled as she stifled a yawn. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, throwing a deadly glare to both of the angels in annoyance, mainly Michael, who had started the argument. "I hope you know how pathetic you sound," she said with a smile that faded away as quickly as it had appeared. "You wanna get out of here, right?" she asked as she pushed herself off of the bed completely ignoring the argument the two angels had just had. "Where to?" she inquired looking at Castiel, assuming he'd taken charge.

Normally, when Sera and Castiel had worked together, Castiel had been in charge because he knew how to carry through the mission and get it done right without getting caught up with something right. Michael might have been the higher angel here, but Sera expected for Castiel's leadership skills to bloom, in which they hadn't.

Castiel looked at Michael, his pale blue eyes brightened when he realized that Michael would be the one explaining things from now on, as the archangel had decided to take lead of the situation because he thought Castiel couldn't and Sera was a mortal now; she had no powers. The archangel frowned; he didn't even see Castiel looking at him with a smirk. "We need to stay near Thomas, in case Alastair comes back to take your grace from him," Michael muttered with a sigh when he finally spoke. "Either we stay around West Point, or we kidnap an eighteen year old who is already terrified to death of us."

"I say we kidnap an eighteen year old who is already terrified to death of us," Sera said, amusement sparkling in her golden-amber eyes as her gaze swiveled to Michael. "Michael, go kidnap us an eighteen year old." Sera didn't sound as if she was kidding; it was an order, a very sad one, but an order. She had always hated taking orders from other angels, especially when she could very well give out her own and make sure they stuck to the plans.

"Uh hum," Michael coughed as he looked at the graceless seraph, "Sera, are you insane?" he inquired with raised eyebrows, surprise sparking in his icy blue eyes.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Sera murmured taking the compliment even though Michael hadn't meant it that way. She grinned, with a sweetening look. "I'm in charge here, now go get Thomas." She snapped her fingers and a moment later the archangel disappeared into thin air.

"He's in charge actually…" Castiel mumbled as he looked at her with a look of interest in his pale eyes.

"Well, someone has to stand up to his stupidity," Sera muttered as she grabbed a plastic cup from her laptop bag and walked into the kitchen of the suite. Even when Sera had been a seraph with her grace she never listened to Michael, now would be no different. "If you won't, I guess I will have to," she said rolling her golden-amber eyes. "Pack up whatever we have left," she mumbled as she turned on the water.

"Holy Jesus," said the familiar voice of Thomas making Castiel jump in surprise before the angel could even start packing. "Why the—" he cut himself off realizing where he was. "What the hell," he muttered as he looked around the suite for Sera and Castiel, "Do you guys regularly kidnap people you've just met?" he inquired flatly, he didn't sound like he was trying to make a joke, but Michael almost smiled.

"We try not to," Sera grumbled from the other room, she sounded annoyed with Thomas for his whining as she shut the water off. "We aren't kidnapping you, Thomas. We're trying to get my grace back." It seemed her patience had melted away since her grace had been taken; she was generally the most patient of the three angels.

"Then why in the world do you need me?" Thomas muttered as he spun toward Sera, now completely lost as to why the angels would even need him. That seemed to be the only thing that the three managed to do for Thomas.

"Because Alastair could come back for you, and we can't have that," Michael explained with a bored tone in the most simplified way. "Unless you'd like to be puppy chow, you're coming with us." The archangel grabbed Sera's messenger bag and laptop bag and swung them both over his shoulder and looked at Castiel as Sera strolled into the room with her cup of water.

Thomas exhaled sharply in irritation. "Fine," he said rigidly. His leaf green eyes seemed to be burning flames as he forced himself to go along with the angels' plans. Sera hoped that it was only just for the moment, if he wouldn't go along with their plans after this then they were going to have other issues. "Where are we going?" he inquired though he still didn't like the idea of being taken away from West Point, the stubbornness ringing in his voice.

"You'll see," Michael muttered as he looked at Sera and Castiel in reassurance. He put a hand out, which Sera and Castiel took almost instantly, Thomas reluctantly took their hands and then they disappeared leaving the sound of flapping wings.

* * *

"Lovely place," Thomas murmured as he looked around the room in complete awe.

"Better be," Sera grumbled as Michael set her laptop bag on the coffee table. "It's my house," she said as she turned toward Michael, with a look of displeasure. "Why are we here?" she inquired unhappily.

As much as Sera loved to be in Detroit, Michael's choice on landing in the place where her grace had been taken away made the place a hell for her. She did have to thank him for bringing them back here, because even as much as she didn't want to be here, the place brought her a sense of calmness that she hadn't had since Alastair had given Thomas her grace.

"Because you know this place," Michael said with a sigh as if Sera should have known this already, "_We_ know this place. We'll have all the supplies we need here."

Sera made a face before she turned away from the archangel. "Something's not right," she murmured, her golden-amber eyes searching the room for anything out of place. Even with her grace gone, she knew there was something wrong in this house. She had grown up in this house in this vessel, which was something that didn't generally happen.

Castiel looked at Michael in anxiety. "I'll go check it out," he murmured as he slipped away from the group and walked down the back hallway his movements full of caution.

Michael didn't move for a moment, and then his eyes snapped to Sera. "I'll go with him," he murmured. He stumbled after Castiel down the hallway, almost reluctantly.

Sera sighed and sat down on the leather couch. "Go on," she muttered looking at Thomas who was looking after Michael nervously as if he wanted to go with them too. Thomas bit his lip before he hurried after Michael and Castiel, deciding on whether to listen to Sera or not.

Someone shouted in the back room and then there was an explosion that shook the whole house. Sera jumped to her feet and unsheathed her blade that hung loosely on her hip and hurried down the hallway as cautiously but quickly as she could. She pushed the door open gently to the room that was showing signs of destruction and crept in warily.

Michael and Thomas were both knocked out on the floor; Castiel was pinned to the wall with his hand to his throat. He was staring at something, a very ugly looking demon. It was dressed as a human, but it had long, disgusting claws, gray-brown skin and a wrinkled, pudgy face with jet-black eyes. Some of her talents hadn't gone away, which gave her a little hope. "Hey, ugly," Sera taunted, her voice rang out strongly across the room. The demon's gaze spun to Sera, and Castiel fell to the ground and landed painfully on his knees. She backed up, careful not to step on Michael or Thomas. She readied her blade and prepared if the demon decided to be stupid enough to come closer.

The demon seemed to be laughing, if that were possible, its jet-black eyes flickering in a menacing laughter. "_Graceless angel_," it hissed. Sera forced a bitter remark away and stood still, her eyes wavering between the demon and Castiel who was getting to his feet, his pale blue eyes dull with pain.

The demon lunged at Sera, with its teeth bared and claws outstretched catching her off-guard. It barreled into her, knocking her to the ground, winding her, and her blade clattered to the cement floor beside her. Castiel dove for the blade and sank it into the demon's back as quickly as he could manage before it could hurt Sera any more than it already had.

The demon disintegrated into nothingness on top of Sera, leaving her breathing heavily on the floor. "I-I can't get up," she stammered as she pressed her arm across her stomach painfully to try to stop the wound from aching.

"Hold still," Castiel murmured once he came into realization of what had happened. He dropped Sera's angel blade and knelt down beside her, moving her arm out of the way so he could see what the demon had done to her. He stomach had been torn to shreds by the demon; blood was oozing from all of the punctures and scratches, she was lucky to still be breathing. He took a deep breath before he set his hand on her forehead. When he looked at her stomach next the wounds had healed, all that was left was a tear in her now bloodied shirt. "Better?" he asked shakily.

Sera nodded as she sat up, flinching thinking she would feel pain, but she didn't. "Check Thomas and Michael," she murmured as she clutched her blade in her hand tightly. The blade was the only thing that she had left that reminded her of her wings without tearing her heart out again.

"Thomas is breathing, just knocked out, no wounds," Castiel murmured over his shoulder. When he moved to Michael a graver look crossed his face. "His head's bleeding," he mumbled as Sera got to her feet. "Badly."

"Maybe it knocked some sense into him," Sera said half-heartily. She sounded ungrateful, but the face she wore said otherwise, her golden-amber eyes were full of concern.

"Help me move him," Castiel murmured ignoring Sera's comment, not noticing her expression. "And be careful," he added warily.

Sera rolled her eyes and scoffed. "For an angel, you're weak," she muttered as she picked Michael up and forced his limp arm around his neck. "He's not that heavy," she said shaking her head as she walked out of the room, carrying Michael as if he were just a child. She left Castiel in the back room and headed for the living room. "Cas, where can I put him? Not on my couch, I hope… Blood and my leather couch don't mix well."

"Unless you'd rather put him on the floor," Castiel sighed as he walked down the hallway with Thomas in his arms.

Sera grumbled something under her breath as she set Michael down on the leather couch. "You can clean the blood off of it then," she muttered turning toward Castiel who was setting Thomas on the armchair adjacent to the couch.

Castiel shook his head. "Don't even bother about him, worry about your damn couch," he sighed as he looked back at Michael. "Grab some bandages to keep the blood off your beloved couch," he muttered before he laid his hand on the Michael's forehead. The wounds healed quickly, leaving his blonde hair bloodstained.

"I think he looks better all helpless and pathetic," Sera muttered as she handed Castiel the bandages. "He's less bossy."

"I'm sure that's because he's knocked out," Castiel said flatly as he began to wrap the bandage around his head. "Check Thomas again," he said to Sera without looking over his shoulder. "I want to make sure he's alright."

Sera nodded as she moved toward the human, she understood Castiel's concern. If they returned him to his girlfriend in this state she would probably have a few problems.

If she were an angel, she would have been able to sense his wounds, but she wasn't an angel, not anymore. She would have to manually check for Thomas's wounds, which she hated, a lot. She shook her head as she turned back toward Castiel. "Nothing," she reported. "How's lover-boy doing?" she inquired with a slight hint of annoyance in her voice.

"He'll be fine, he's sleeping now," Castiel said turning toward Sera with a sigh. "If he has any other wounds there's no more I can do, my powers are drained." He sounded helpless and lonely for the first time in a long time. This wasn't the first time he'd been drained of his powers, nor would it be the last time.

Sera sighed. "Best we can do is wait for our little _angels_ to wake up," she murmured.

* * *

"Do I smell chicken?" Michael murmured sleepily, his arms across his chest with his eyes still closed. He hardly moved except for the steady breaths he took, making his chest rise and fall.

There was a sigh from Sera and then the sound of a plate being set down on the glass coffee table. "Yes," she said as she walked toward him. "You feeling alright?" she inquired as she peered over him in curiosity and worry. Even though Castiel _had_ healed Michael she still had her doubts about how well he could heal Michael, especially with his powers drained.

"Well, if I get some of that chicken I'll be amazing," he said as a sweet smile spread across his lips, his icy-blue eyes still closed. He stifled a yawn and threw out his arm to pop it and then laid his arm back across his chest comfortably.

Sera scoffed, as if she had expected something else from the archangel. "Well you can get it yourself," she said as she turned away from him and sat down again and started eating her chicken again.

Michael's sweet smile disappeared as he sat up. "Well, aren't we friendly," he sighed as he rolled his shoulders and stifled another yawn. He looked around the living room, his icy blue eyes snapping from object to object, looking for the chicken or Thomas and Castiel. "Where's Castiel and Thomas?" he inquired after a long moment. The moment he asked he wished he hadn't, the look Sera gave him made him feel bad for asking.

"They went out," Sera said shrugging her shoulders; she sounded upset that they had left her to watch Michael. She pushed herself out of the armchair and walked toward the kitchen bar. "And I don't know where they went, or when they'll be back," she added over her shoulder knowing that Michael would ask. "All I know is that Castiel said they were going out and that they'd be back as soon as they could."

Michael licked his lips as he tried not to smile. "That's reassuring," he said as he tried to look over the counter to see if there was any chicken left. "Can't we just summon Alastair?" he asked as he stumbled over to the kitchen sleepily.

"Not in my house," Sera said looking at him as if he were crazy. "Even if I'm not human and I don't intend on staying here. Other people _do_ live here. I'd like to keep it how it normally is," Sera said as she rinsed the plate off and set it on the counter.

"Well… Technically, you _are _human," Michael murmured, as soon as he said it he wished he hadn't. He knew that he had gone too far, but he couldn't take back the words he had already said.

"I still have 'angel radio'," she said harshly, "and I can still sense when there are demons nearby, even if I don't know it's a demon, I can still sense it." She snatched the chicken away before he could get it, clearing having enough of his foolishness. She looked like she had when he had first met her; cold, hard, determined, and mostly uncaring. "I need to leave some for Jenny and Henry," she said glaring at him. To him it sounded like a big excuse, but he couldn't bring himself to argue with the graceless seraph anymore.

Michael sighed and raised his hands up in surrender. "Fine, no chicken for the wounded soldier," he said in a mocking hurt tone. "Where are they anyways?" he asked straightening up, a confused look spreading across his face. He knew that Sera's vessel's parents should have been home… And yet, every time they had shown up at the house, they seemed to be out, whether that was convenient or not, he wasn't sure.

"Well, I know they went to visit her parents," Sera said, still holding the plate with the chicken on it protectively. "That was on Monday, they must be out doing something now though," she said as her eyes flickered to the door as if she had heard something.

Michael nodded as his eyes lingered hungrily on the chicken, ignoring the direction of her stare. "Can I just have one _small_ piece?" he begged with his head tilted to the side a little bit.

"No," she said firmly with a rigid edge to her voice.

"But—"

"_No_. It's not for you," Sera repeated sternly as she set it on the counter behind her. "You don't _need _to eat, I actually do now." She folded her arms across her chest as if she had won the argument.

"Yeah, well I have to eat something when your parents get here, or whatever they are," Michael said as he tried to look around her to see the chicken. He knew that she would say he was just making up excuses, of course he was. He just wanted

Sera sighed as she took a step toward Michael. "Michael, they know you don't eat often when you're here," she said. "You're just making excuses now. If they offer you some of the chicken when _they_ are eating it, _then_ you can have some. Otherwise keep your fingers out of the chicken."

On the other side of the room the front door opened, and in walked two older people, both wearing rain coats with the hoods up. Sera shrank, her eyes looking desperately for somewhere to hide.

"Gee, you really have bad timing," Michael laughed as he looked at Sera, though the look died away realizing that it meant trouble for him as well. He put the most solemn face he could manage on and stood completely still.

"Sera!" the woman said in surprise when she realized Sera and Michael were standing in the kitchen. "Where have you been?" she inquired a stern look in her amber eyes as she looked at the teenager.


	6. No Parents Allowed

**A/N:** Anything you recognize from Supernatural isn't mine! And this chapter's a short one... But the next one should be a lengthy one, as it goes into Castiel's and Sera's past a little bit, explaining why Crowley even brought up Jack, and why Michael keeps on nagging about him. :) Don't forget to sub/review!

* * *

"I was at Michael's," Sera said sheepishly as she leaned back against the counter.

"Really," her mother inquired, "because I called his mother when I couldn't find you. She said he came over here." The vessel's mother looked at Michael as if she expected him to explain himself.

He opened his mouth to explain when Castiel and Thomas appeared in the living room between Sera's parents and Michael and Sera. Her mother screamed in surprise. "Who the hell are you?" she yelled with a look of cold hatred rising in her amber eyes.

Castiel looked at her mother, Jenny, in surprise, clearly not expecting them to be there. "Uh, Castiel," he said with his pale blue eyes darting back and forth between Sera and the vessel's mother. "T-This is Thomas," he stammered.

Sera's mother looked back at her. "Give me one reason I shouldn't be calling the police on these men," she said, a stern look of disbelief clouding her eyes.

"Cas and Thomas are friends," Sera said as steadily as she could. She never wanted Jenny and Henry to have to deal with this, so she hadn't prepared for any of this to happen, because she hadn't expected it to happen. "Thomas, actually, is my boyfriend," she said, the look she gave to Thomas made him understand what was going on.

"And I've never met him?" Henry demanded with a look of confusion and anger in his eyes. "Sera, how are we supposed to believe you? For all we know these two could be drug dealers."

"Check them," Michael insisted, confidence ringing in his voice as he looked at Castiel and Thomas. And then he prayed to God that they didn't have any drugs on them.

Thomas raised his arms in the air, which Castiel copied with a look of confusion, not quite understanding what was going on. Henry shook his head. "No. I want them out of this house right this instant," he said, glaring at Sera.

"But Dad," Sera said, her eyes flickered to Castiel who she normally counted on to take hold of these kind of situations.

"Sir," Thomas said as he looked at Henry with a respective nod, "Sera actually invited us over because she didn't know when you were going to be back—"

Jenny shook her head. "It doesn't matter, Thomas," she said, "She was gone for _two _days. She didn't text us, and she didn't leave a note or anything." Castiel looked at Sera, who nodded with a sigh. The angel took several steps toward the vessel's parents and touched their foreheads, and then they crumpled to the floor.

"God," Thomas scoffed as he looked back at Sera. "Talk about chatty," he muttered rolling his leaf green eyes in annoyance.

Castiel bowed his head as his pale blue eyes searched the floor. "That was my fault," he muttered. "I should have thought that through a little more…"

Sera shook her head. "It's neither of your faults," she murmured. "Now let's get these guys to the back room," she said. Her golden-brown eyes fell on Castiel. "Can you remove their memories?" she inquired.

Castiel nodded stiffly. "I will," he said.

"Next time," Michael said over his shoulder as he walked toward Castiel and Thomas, "have something planned to say. Because that was a horrible conversation," he said with a teasing smile at Sera, knowing that even though he had asked her to do something about it she wouldn't prepare anything.

"It won't happen again," she sighed as she turned toward the counter.

"Better not," Michael said as he picked up Henry. He looked back at Sera over his shoulder. "Tell him to lay off the chips when you get the chance," he grumbled before he followed Thomas down the hallway.

Sera bit her lip in anxiety. "Should I leave a note?" she inquired before Castiel turned to follow the other two down the hall.

"I can change their memories," Castiel murmured, "But if you want to, yes, you should." He looked at her for a brief moment before disappearing down the hall after Thomas and Michael.

Mom & Dad

Hey, this is Sera… And I want you to know I'm off with a couple friends on a mission for the church & I'll be back as soon as possible. I love you I'll be back in a week or two!

Love Sera xoxo

Sera left the note on the counter next to the chicken and hoped to God that they believed the note and that Castiel made them forget this encounter with them. By the time she was finished writing the note the three boys were back in the living room, Castiel and Michael were sitting quietly on Sera's leather couch, and Thomas was standing beside with his hand to his chin, as if he were thinking.

She sighed inwardly as her dark golden-amber eyes fell to the two angels sitting on her couch. "So what did you make them remember?" she inquired, she sounded as if she wasn't quite sure she wanted to know what Castiel had replaced their memories with. "Hopefully you made them remember something about an explosion," she murmured.

Castiel's eyes lightened as he looked at her, but he wore a grim expression. "Yes," he said stiffly. "They think someone broke in the house and was trying to set up explosives but the explosives went off by mistake, thus the explosion. And they were knocked out by the robber." He sighed as he looked at the ground, he looked ashamed.

"They'll understand I hope," she sighed knowing they probably wouldn't.

Thomas looked up from the ground, not looking at anything in particular. "We need to leave here," he said suddenly. "If they find us here, we'll have the same conversation again. And believe me; I'd kill if I had to listen to that crazy gibberish again."

Sera nodded in agreement, though she really didn't want to leave here when they'd just gotten here. "Alright, where would we go then?" she murmured. It wasn't the fact that she wanted someone to name off some random place, it was the fact that she literally couldn't think of any place to stay now. She couldn't stay here, they couldn't go back to West Point, and she hardly knew anywhere else.

Michael shook his head, his hand plastered to his forehead in boredom.

"I think I know a place," Castiel murmured as he stood up and put his hand out for the other three to take, which they took almost instantly.


	7. The Past isn't Just the Past

**A/N: **Once again, anything you recognize from Supernatural isn't mine! So... Yeah, there's a lot of little blips of Sera and Castiel's past... And a little bit of lying here and there. The usual stuff haha hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Where's this?" Thomas inquired as he looked around taking in their surroundings. They stood in a room filled with beautiful furniture; the ceiling was decorated with chandeliers and other décor.

"Lebanon, Kansas," Castiel said gruffly as he looked at Sera and Castiel as if he expected them to make a stupid remark.

"Huh, wasn't Jack a Man of Letters here?" Michael asked absentmindedly. The angel sat down in one of the chairs surrounding the nearby wooden table. Sera shot Michael an irritated look. "What? Sorry, I thought we were past Jack?" A sweet smile of innocence crossed his lips, he know it would never be over.

Thomas held up one hand interrupting Sera. "Hold up, who's Jack? Crowley said something about me not being him… And you two are constantly bickering over him." His leaf green eyes lingered on Sera for a long moment in wonder. She should have expected he would ask sooner or later.

"Um…" Castiel murmured sounding a little reluctant to talk about Jack, but at least he spoke up for once. He generally never wanted anything to do with Jack because of the bad memories it brought back.

"You want story time?" Sera inquired. She spoke light-heartedly, but there was a weariness and unhappiness sparking in the back of her eyes.

"Story time, one of the two things I really miss about kindergarten," Thomas sighed with his eyes dancing in amusement as he nodded.

"Alright," Sera sighed as she nodded to Castiel, who lightly touched Thomas's forehead.

* * *

There was a woman, who vaguely looked like Sera, but older, sterner and she looked more trusting. She stood beside a young man who resembled Thomas in almost all aspects, except his clothing and the length of his hair.

They were in the same place that Michael had brought them too; the only difference now was it looked newer. But all the decorations and furniture were in the same places, and had the same sort of beauty to them.

"Jack," she was saying, her voice urgent, "Castiel said if you didn't stop the killings and summonings—"

"He would kill me?" the man, Thomas supposed was Jack, said with a heartfelt chuckle. "Would it be news to him that you're a lot more powerful than him?" he inquired looking up from his desk at the older at the older Sera with a spark of amusement in his leaf green eyes.

"No," Sera growled, her now blue eyes darkened in annoyance. "Jack, just because I'm stronger than Castiel doesn't mean I can stop him." She paused for a moment, and when she next spoke, her words sounded forced. "I'm _begging_ you, Jack. Stop this. You're my assignment and I don't want another angel trying to do what I _should_ be doing." She looked saddened as if she should have said it before now, but she had never had the courage to say it to Jack.

"Which is killing me?" Jack sounded amused as if he really thought she didn't mean it.

"No," Sera sighed, "It's to help, you know this," she grumbled, but there was a flash in her eyes that gave her away. She was lying. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself. "Look, if you want a pissed angel on your tail, that's fine. But when it's more than just Castiel and I, you _have_ to stop. One is more than enough, two means—"

"That I'm in a lot of trouble."

"—you are blessed, but to have one at the ready to kill? You're doing _something_ wrong," she said, not caring how hurtful the words were. She was tired of him not listening to her.

"Aren't we always?" he sighed as he relaxed, still taking her words lightly. "The summoning is for my own good, if I didn't do the spells, then I'd be dead because of useless trials."

Sera's blue eyes flared up in a burning fire. "Then maybe you should stop being so suspicious and calling on an angel to help your case every time it starts going south." She sighed inwardly. "One day they may not be coming for your case, they'll be coming to smite you down."

"Then _stop_ them!" Jack yelled in a sudden burst of anger, realizing she was being truthful. He turned toward Sera, he was breaking. "At least I'm trying," he growled.

"Trying my patience," Sera muttered under her breath.

* * *

The scene changed, they were in a jail cell. Jack was sitting with his hands to his forehead, his hair splayed out in angles around his hand. Sera was standing beside him, looking down at him with a sad and unimpressed expression plastered across her face as if he'd done something that he shouldn't have after she _told_ him not to.

Jack sighed heavily as he closed his eyes. "Sera, _God_, even Castiel. I'm sorry that I messed up… Please… I need help…" he trailed off looking around the jail cell to see if Sera or Castiel had appeared. Sera stayed where she, knew Jack couldn't see her standing there. There was a slight rustle that sounded like the soft movement of feathery wings and then Sera vanished.

* * *

The scene changed again, now Thomas was watching Sera and Castiel, who were standing face-to-face. Sera was shaking in anger and desperation, while Castiel stood calmly with a questioning stare.

"You can't kill Jack," she said fiercely. Her voice trembled, but she never flinched away from him. "He's _my_ assignment, not yours. I can take care of—"

Castiel shook his head, his face full of wonder as to why she couldn't see what Jack was doing was so wrong. "He's killing _angels_, Sera. What don't you understand?" He scoffed, unimpressed. "I'm sorry," he murmured as he flicked a lit match to the floor, locking her in a ring of fire. He gave her a look of pity before he vanished into thin air with the sound of fluttering wings.

* * *

The scene shifted again, they were in the same room Sera and Jack had been in in the first scene Thomas had seen. Castiel stood, dead silent, behind Jack.

"Hello, Castiel," Jack said, he didn't turn around to face the angel. "Come to lecture me about my summonings and killing?" he asked in a deadly serious tone, though he looked amused. Castiel didn't move, he stood there, silent as a stone, with his hand on his angelic blade. "Oh, you've come to kill me. Be my guest. I'm done with angels." Jack smiled as he turned to Castiel when the sound of fluttering wings echoed throughout the room.

"Don't!" Sera squealed, but Castiel sank his blade into Jack's chest as if he hadn't heard Sera's cry. The boy's facial expression changed from a sweet smile of innocence to a completely agonizing pain. He was too surprised to cry out and so the only noise he made was the thud of his body crumpling to the floor.

The lighting in the room started to crackle and then finally went out, the candles blowing up, sending wax every which way. Sera's face was pure fury and rage, in the darkening shadows Sera's gorgeous pure white, huge wings loomed around her, feathers bristling in an eerie wrath.

"Calm down," Castiel said, his voice was a soothing calm, but it wasn't enough to calm Sera. "He was just a human." If the angel had his wings out, they were hidden with a veil.

"Just— _JUST A HUMAN_?" Sera roared her blue eyes were a terrifying, burning flame. "He was so much more than _human_. And you couldn't see it because you weren't listening." She fell silent for a moment, her wings shadow still bristling in fury. "Leave. And don't _ever_ come back. Or I _will_ kill you," she threatened with a snarl. Castiel looked at her as if he was going to speak but shook his head as if she was missing the point of what he had done and then vanished into thin air.

Sera's wings folded neatly behind her before she moved forward. She breathed in deeply and relaxed a little bit and sank to her knees beside Jack. She closed his eyes and then stood up abruptly and then vanished, leaving Jack's body in the Men of Letter's bunker.

* * *

The scene shifted again. Thomas could tell it was from a more recent time. The vessels were the same that Castiel and Sera held now, the only differences were Castiel seemed tenser and Sera had bandages wrapped around her arm.

This scene was different; Thomas could sense Castiel's feelings and hear what he thought this time. The angel had so many emotions straining through his body; Thomas wasn't sure how he dealt with it. There was anxiety, for meeting Sera for the first time in almost three hundred years, and then there was another emotion, something Thomas swore that angels couldn't feel. Love. It wasn't like the love that Thomas had noticed between Michael and Sera, it was the sense of someone he had cared about for so long coming back into his life. And maybe this time he could fix things. And there was disappointment and a little bit of regret. Regret that he had killed Jack, and lost Sera's complete trust. And then there was hurt. Castiel knew that Michael had grown on Sera. And the angel knew Michael was in love with Sera and that Sera couldn't see it.

"Good evening," the familiar cool voice of Castiel echoed in the foggy air, though he was nowhere to be seen. His anxiety rose as he forced himself to appear in front of them.

"Castiel," Sera said, dipping her head respectfully as she tried to keep the coldness from her voice. He took note that Sera sounded bitter, she still hadn't forgiven him for what he had done to Jack.

Castiel appeared in front of them, with his hands in the pockets of his light brown trench coat. "Thank you for coming," he said casually, trying not to make Sera go off on him. "I really do appreciate it." He bowed his head respectfully to the higher ranking angels. Fear overran him for a short moment, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"Why do you need our help, exactly?" Sera asked her distrust shining through in her rigid voice, making Castiel bit his tongue in disappointment. "You have your own angels to take care of you and do your 'jobs'."

"They're busy," Castiel said, he didn't sound annoyed and he didn't back down, even knowing Sera still didn't trust him. "I need your help." He tried to sound as pleading as he could; he knew that was the only way to win them over. "Alastair is loose." He swallowed painfully as he looked away from Michael and Sera. There was a small voice in his head telling him to stop lying. Alastair had been loose for years now. He just wanted to see Sera again, and make sure she was alright and getting on well.

"And he's too powerful for you?" Michael asked out of pure curiosity with raised eyebrows. "If he's too powerful for you, how do you think we can take care of him?"

"Because you never lose," Castiel murmured, his pale blue eyes flickered to Michael and then back toward the concrete ground, there was doubt in his eyes. He really hated praising the higher angels, because in truth they weren't really that much more powerful than he was. He faked his own powers to seem less threatening. But Sera knew his tricks well enough, he was surprised she didn't even mention the idea.

"We've lost plenty of times," Sera muttered through slitted eyes as she looked at Castiel, there was distrust there.

"_You_ may have lost plenty of times," Castiel said as he looked at Sera, his pale blue eyes lighting up, "but Michael rarely has." He hated having to get her riled up, but it was the only way to make her think straight.

Michael held a hand out as a gesture to hold back knowing Sera already didn't like Castiel; this wouldn't help his case any. "That may be true," he said choosing his words carefully, "but we can't always win, Castiel, even a team such as Seraphina and me." Michael shook his head and then he looked back at Castiel. "We can try, but do not expect us to do well."

Castiel dipped his head respectfully, wishing Michael had let Sera come after him, he deserved whatever she planned on doing. "I wish you luck," he murmured as he began to turn away from them.

"Is that why he came after us?" Sera inquired after a moment of silence.

"You saw him?" Castiel asked confusion in his eyes as he turned back to them, he already knew that Alastair had appeared to them, but he had to force himself to act confused.

"Yes," Sera said, her golden-amber eyes flickered away from Castiel and to the concrete ground. Why hadn't she or Michael mentioned that they had stumbled across Alastair to him before now? "He said he had plans. For me," she muttered, plain disgust coated her words. "I didn't even think to have thought he'd escaped."

Castiel sighed half-heartily. "Alright then," he murmured nodding unhappily toward Sera. "Good luck. And please hurry, we can't have him out there."

Michael nodded. "Until then." Michael waved and Castiel disappeared into thin air.

Castiel only made it around the corner of the nearby building and sat there, leaned against the wall, his emotions over coming him, making him realize that he was wrong to think that Sera would ever forgive him.

* * *

"Castiel," Thomas said, when he was certain he understood what the angel had showed him. He raised his hand, at first with a single finger pointing and then made it into a fist. "Who made you do that?" he inquired, earning him a look of confusion and curiosity from Sera and Michael.

Castiel shook his head. "Nobody," he murmured looking up at Thomas with a puzzled look. He stared at Thomas for a long moment before he spoke again. "But do you understand why now?"

Thomas took a deep breath. "I don't necessarily understand… But I know what happened, and I know what you were trying to do," he said, his gaze drifted toward Sera. "I knew what you thought could have happened." Castiel nodded sadly. "You thought Jack would have tried to kill Sera."

Sera sucked in air, a look of anger washing over her face. "He wouldn't have—"

"Sera," Michael said holding his hand up to interrupt her, "it's the past let it go. Jack is gone. And he can't get you now." Michael stared at the floor. He looked ashamed, and most of all not himself.

Sera looked like she was holding something back, but then nodded in agreement. "Alright. The past is the past…" she murmured.

Thomas stared at Castiel for a time before he actually spoke. "In that last blip you showed me, was that right before you guys met me?" he inquired curiously. Castiel nodded, his pale blue eyes found an interest in the floor.

"Actually," Thomas murmured as his leaf green gaze fell on Sera, "I have an idea…" he trailed off waiting for their permission to tell them the idea. "Is it possible to transfer power to another?" he asked, his eyes flickered between Castiel and Michael.

Castiel was about to speak when Michael cut him off. "It is possible, yes, but it's time consuming and it's painful for the one receiving the transfer." The archangel knew exactly what Thomas was getting at. "I don't—"

"It might work," Sera said cutting Michael off without a hesitation. "If I have some powers I could fool Crowley into thinking that I've got my grace back." Her eyes fell on Castiel who looked like he was tremendously unenthusiastic about this idea. "What is it?" she inquired, she sounded a little unhappy that he objected what Thomas was saying.

"Crowley knew that Thomas had your grace in the first place," he said roughly, "How are you going to make him believe that Thomas no longer has your grace?" he murmured, sounding as if he wanted to dismiss the idea right away.

Thomas's gaze snapped to Castiel. "Well, she'd have some angelic powers," he said, trying not to sound too proud of himself. "So maybe Crowley couldn't tell that she hadn't gotten her grace back. And it may be overpowering enough that he can't tell that I still have her grace."

Castiel looked at him in frustration, his brow furrowed. He shook his head. "I don't think it'll work," he murmured, he sounded very sure of himself.

"We can give it a try," Michael said, completely ignoring Castiel's protests.

Sera gave Castiel one last pity filled look before she turned to face Thomas. "How do you know this?" she inquired. She took into consideration that Castiel might be correct on whether or not it would be safe, or if would even make Crowley think that she had her grace back.

Thomas shook his head as if he didn't quite understand. "I don't know," he murmured.


	8. And Don't Come Back

**A/N:** Once again... Anything you recognize from Supernatural isn't mine! And also giving you a heads up, my best friend is now going to be doing some of the editing to this instead of just me, so some of the wordings might be a little different, and some of the descriptions done differently... And the other chapters might get a little updating to them, this one included because I want her edits _everywhere_ so it doesn't just randomly become noticeable. Thanks folks :) Enjoy! *Oh! And some more flashbacks... And we find a liar amongst us!*

* * *

Castiel stood up abruptly with a sincere look. "Sera, I need to talk to you," he said, as if he had just remembered something important that he sound have said before now. There was a swift look of confusion in Sera's eyes, but it faded away as quickly as it had come as she rose from her seat and followed Castiel into the other room.

"What?" she said impatiently as she looked over her shoulder to see if the other two were trying to listen in on them. They weren't, they were busily discussing something.

Castiel hesitated, a look of worry in his pale blue eyes as if he was afraid she would snap at him if he said something wrong. "When I was showing Thomas those scenes I caught some glimpses of his past," he murmured, his voice lowered as if he were afraid that he would be in trouble with Thomas for telling Sera, as if he wasn't supposed to see what he had seen. "I saw that Jack had seen when we fought, when we were at those trials with him."

Sera breathed in sharply. "Cas, he can't be Jack. Crowley said—"

Castiel scoffed in disappointment. He thought Sera would have known better. "You're really going to listen to him? He's the King of Hell," he muttered. He shook his head. "No, I think he's Jack. A vengeful spirit, something raised from the grave," he said with uncertainty. "I think he's working for Crowley or Alastair. I caught a glimpse of him talking with both of them. Without us there." He sounded spooked, that was unusual for Castiel.

Sera shook her head in denial. She would never believe that. "Maybe you're just seeing things," she murmured, her eyes flickered toward him in sympathy. Castiel made a sound in his throat that resembled a growl before he placed the palm of his hand on her forehead gently.

* * *

A young man with dark brown, almost black, wavy hair and bright leaf green eyes stood, head bowed, before the court. This was the Jack Sera remembered. His face looked as if it had been scrubbed clean to the best of his abilities, though his clothes looked tattered as if he couldn't afford any better. "Your honor," he spoke up, the court staring at him intently as if he would attack at any moment. "If I may… Even if I _had_ robbed and murdered him… Why would you have found all the stolen items in Jonathon Remeg's house?" He spoke smoothly, sounding persuasive, even the court loosened up.

"Because you put the stolen items in there!" a man accused as he stood up from his seat. The man was dressed in the finest clothes, a light leather trench coat with a beautiful white top and black slacks underneath. "Mister Jack Deemings," he said as he pushed his way out of the crowd. "You stole William Jackson's possessions and killed him," he said, blame coating his voice, "and then you put the stolen items in Jonathon Remeg's house to cover up the crime."

Jack laughed as he faced the man in the trench coat. "Why would I go through all the trouble of that?" he inquired curiously with an eyebrow raised. "Too much blame on me," he said turning his gaze back to the judge.

The pale blue eyes of the man burned into Jack before he nodded. "So shall I call up Jonathon Remeg?" he said, eyebrows raised in interest.

"Please, be my guest," Jack said welcoming the gesture with a warm smile, even though his green eyes were cold burning flames as he turned back to the other man.

A man who was wearing similar clothes to the one who had accused stepped forward from the crowd, with a look of discernment. "Your honor," he said dipping his head to the judge in respect before he turned his gaze to the gentleman that had called him down. "Thank you for your support," he sighed with exaggeration. "Mr. Deemings, I do not see how you could lay the blame on me as I had no former connections with William Jackson."

Jack raised his eyebrows in interest. "So that little episode with William two days ago wasn't you? Even though I recognize that very coat you are wearing, and your voice, I remember… You were yelling at him for giving you the wrong supplies. And you swore that you'd get him back for it." Jack shrugged his shoulders as if it were that simple. "Well, maybe it's just me. But I'm sure I saw this young gentleman yelling at our poor Mr. Jackson."

The judge stood up abruptly to quite the two quarreling parties, before Jonathan could start yelling. "Remeg, if what he is saying _wasn't_ true… You still sound like you're trying too hard to make it sound like you didn't do it," he said eyeing the better dressed man.

Jack closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief with a small smile. "Thank you," he murmured softly, to whom it was unclear.

* * *

The gruff voice of Castiel rung throughout the room, it showed no sense of anger or unhappiness. "Jack, I don't know what you're up—"

"I promise you," Jack said waving his hand as if to throw the topic away, "it's nothing that concerns you. Or Sera for that matter." Jack sighed knowing Castiel was worried about Sera's safety. "Now, if you please, I need some time with my papers."

"No," Castiel said stubbornly as he took a step toward the human. "Jack. You're killing angels. My siblings. And I can't allow you to do that," he said, his pale blue eyes flared up. "Either you stop the summonings and killings, or I'll stop you."

Jack snorted in amusement; he didn't believe Castiel's words. "You? Kill me? Hah. Sera would stop you in the bat of an eye," he said, he sounded positive about what Sera would do.

Castiel just stared at Jack with a look of disbelief in his eyes, not quite understanding why Jack was so content on thinking Sera would save him. "You really do not know Sera," he muttered shaking his head. "She would kill you if it was an order from Our Father." He took a step back with his blade in his hand a menacing look in his blue eyes. "Do no push me, human. Sera may have a liking for you, but I do not. And I _will_ do her job for her if she won't do it." There was the soft ruffle of fluttering wings and Castiel vanished into thin air.

* * *

The scene shifted, this was what Sera remembered to be Jack's death. She cringed at the thought, knowing this was what drove Sera and Castiel apart. Castiel stood behind Jack, a stiffness to his stature, he had just locked Sera in a ring of holy fire only moments before he'd come here and he seemed to be a little troubled by that.

In this scene Sera could sense Jack's feelings, which was different. There was a little fear, knowing that Castiel was standing behind him, and pride for all of his work he'd done, the summonings and killings.

"Hello, Castiel," Jack said, he didn't turn to face the angel, he wasn't sure if he wanted to. "Come to lecture me about my summonings and killing?" he asked, he sounded dead serious, though he wore a look of amusement. Castiel didn't move behind him, he just stood there, silent as a stone. "Oh, you've come to kill me. Be my guest. I'm done with angels." Jack smiled as he turned to Castiel, but on the inside fear was racing through his blood. And then there was the sound of fluttering wings behind Castiel. Sera had entered the room.

This was the heartbreaking and trust-breaking moment that always made Sera wish she would have done her job, like she was supposed to and not babied Jack when she had. But instead, she had ignored her assignment and tried to stop Jack despite Castiel's warnings. "Don't!" Sera cried, but Castiel sank his blade into Jack's chest as if he hadn't heard her cry. The look the angel wore was merciless.

The scene started to become blurry and faded. These were the last moments of Jack's life. His facial expression was no longer his usual smile of innocence; it was a look of agonizing pain. And then the scene completely faded into darkness.

* * *

"Why?" Jack's voice echoed in a dark room angrily as he turned around in circles looking for a sign that someone was there.

"I need some intel," said the familiarly gruff voice of Crowley; familiar to Sera, completely unfamiliar to Jack. "Well, actually, _Alastair_ needs intel." The King of Hell didn't sound particularly pleased about this idea.

"I was _dead_," Jack said, rage rising in his voice, clearly unhappy that Crowley had raised him. "I was dead for a reason." He spoke as if he finally understood what he had done to deserve to die, as if his time dead had actually taught him something.

"Well, that reason actually benefitted our side," Crowley said shrugging his shoulders, he really could care less about Jack's excuses, and sighed. "I assume you remember Sera and Castiel…"

Fury passed Jack's face, but disappeared almost instantly. "Yes," he murmured trying to keep calm.

"Well, Alastair is planning to get you revenge and himself a treat, per se, Castiel, Michael, and Sera all dead." Crowley watched Jack's expressions; it seemed as if he was fighting himself, but Crowley seemed to be enjoying himself.

"What has Sera done to deserve this? She never wanted me dead. She tried to stop Cas from killing me," Jack argued, even after his time dead, he still cared for the seraph. "She would recognize me immediately anyways," he added, his green eyes glared at Crowley like a challenge. He was making excuses, he really didn't want to work for Crowley, or Alastair for that matter.

"Leave that part to me," Crowley said snapping his fingers, upon the snap Jack's hair shortened and became messier but in a good way and his clothes were completely different now. He looked like an ordinary teenager from the 2000's. "Identity change: Thomas Paseh is your name now. Don't even hint about being Jack. They can read your memories and they can find out who you are and what you're doing."

"I never agreed to this!" the newly named Thomas roared in anger, he sounded lost. Sera knew that the orders given to him was something he could never force himself to do, no matter how much he might have disliked Castiel for kill him.

"And I never asked," Crowley said shrugging his shoulders, a look of boredom crossed his face. "Go," he said with a shooing gesture.

* * *

Sera looked at Castiel in astonishment, realizing what he'd just shown her. "He's here to kill you and Michael?" she murmured, her golden-amber eyes swimming in confusion. She would never believe that Jack would _ever_ hurt anyone; he was completely innocent, at least in that category.

"And you," Castiel added, knowing Sera wouldn't say that. "But he's not," Castiel murmured shaking his head. "No, he's waiting for orders from Alastair," he muttered. "Watch what you say around him. We don't know if he really is working for Alastair and Crowley. Even if he isn't working for them, I can't let him know we know who that he's really Jack."

Sera nodded slowly, understanding their situation. "He could have rejected the mission," she murmured hopefully. She went quiet for a moment. "Should Michael know?" she inquired.

"I'll let him know," Castiel said with a sigh, he sounded like he really didn't want to tell him.

"Celestial being doesn't have a lack of hearing," Michael said from the other room merrily. Someone should have remembered that.

"Never mind," Castiel sighed as he and Sera walked back into the other room. Michael and Thomas were sitting in the same spot as they had been when Sera and Castiel had left the room, with their eyes locked on them.

"Alright, so are we summoning Alastair?" Michael inquired curiously. He was making up for what Castiel and Sera had said in the other room, sometimes lying was okay… But only to a certain degree.

Sera raised her eyebrows, clearly not liking the idea, but she couldn't deny the fact that they would have to summon him at some point in the near future. "No, not unless you have a plan to hold him here and figure out a way to get my grace back first."

"Devil's trap and torture." Castiel spoke as if that were the only way.

"He's in charge of torture, he wouldn't be fazed by it," Sera grumbled rolling her golden-amber eyes. "And even if it _did_ do anything, where are we getting these weapons?"

"Heaven?" Michael inquired as if it were obvious. Sera clamped her mouth shut. Michael _did_ have his sword…that she always seemed to forget about. But even with his sword they couldn't do too much harm to Alastair, because if they killed him then there would be no chance of Sera getting her grace back. "So we summon him," he said, completely ignoring Sera's protests.


End file.
